


A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

by DarkSammyProdigy02



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Aftermath of Possession, Canonical Character Death, Castiel and Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester are Jack Kline's Parents, Flashbacks, Implied Mpreg, Lucifer Possessing Sam Winchester, M/M, Memory Loss, Pregnant Sam Winchester, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Unrequited Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Unrequited Lucifer/Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2019-11-24 18:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18168362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSammyProdigy02/pseuds/DarkSammyProdigy02
Summary: Sam wakes up after his brutal death at the claws of the feral vampires of Apocalypse World, only to find out he has somehow been possessed by that world’s Lucifer. In order to free himself and save those he loves, he strikes a deal. But the longer he stays in the grips of this devil, the more he succumbs to the words that roll off his forked tongue. It’s supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship, not a possession - Then why does he feel like he can’t control himself?





	1. The Cave of Feral Vampires

**May 17, 2018**

 

The tiny coffee shop huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. Washed out under the overcast sky, it hunched in itself, fighting against the drizzle. Hundreds of people rushed by it, outside on the crowded street. The half a dozen customers glanced up as the door swung open, heralded by a blast of cold wind. Unlike the outside, the interior of the place was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colorful walls. The customers neglected to return to their conversations as the door swung closed behind the new entrant and instead all turned an eye to the man.

One could tell at first glance he was an Adonis among other men who each pale in comparison. One look and both women and men no doubt swooned at the sight of him, no matter their sexual preferences. A single word passed from his lips without a single fleeting thought would have even the straightest of men flushing shades of red that no one ever knew was naturally possible.

The man had hair that was a lovely dark whisky, the color of fallen leaves browned and sleek with the first rain of autumn. And his eyes were a soft hazel, framed by graceful brows. His skin was tanned. He had prominent cheekbones and a well-defined chin and nose. He’s wearing a wool overcoat with the collar popped, which partially covers a stark white turtle neck that’s pulled tight against his muscular chest. The man glances around the café for a brief second, before he makes his way towards the front, and faces all of the customers.

“Sir, can I help you?” One of the baristas asks softly.

There is a smile on the man’s lips, but it doesn't reach his eyes. His eyes are blank, emotionless when he gives the smile. They stay just like that as he brings his fingers up, and snaps them. There is a finality to it as the sound echoes throughout the place, for as it responds every single person drops dead. Their eyes are still wide, and their mouths in silent ‘o’s. The man inclines his head forward, that cold, dispassionate smile dissipating into a thin line.

The man makes his way across the now eerily silent space, and settles on a table in the very back where a young, college-age couple was sitting. He sighs, grasping the shoulder of the male, and none too gently throws the corpse onto the floor. The body hits the ground with a loud ‘thud’, it’s neck limply lolling to the side so that it’s unmoving gaze sets on him. He grabs the woman by her straw blonde strands, twisting his fingers until he’s gripping her scalp, before tossing the body on top of that of her lover. It’s fitting, really, that the couple’s bodies should be so close together, even in death.

The man, satisfied, sits down. He looks down at the table, and notices a small white porcelain cup on a matching saucer. He picks it up by the handle, and brings it to his nose, he sniffs gingerly. Green gunpowder tea and mint leaves with a subtle hint of sugar. He brings the cup to his lips and takes a sip. The liquid was still a little warm, but his tastebuds - his vessel’s tastebuds – do not favor the drink. Something in his head goes off like a siren,”Too much sugar!” He holds the cup over the two bodies at the side of the table, and turns it upside down.

Lucifer brings the cup back to the table, setting it back down on the saucer with a gentle ‘clink’. At the sound, something begins to stir in his mind – his vessel’s mind – again. He sees a man with piercing green-eyes offering him a beer, the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. Perspiration runs down the side of the cold glass, and it sticks to his hand when he delicately clicks it against the other man’s bottle. He takes a sip. The liquid is not at all tasty and it is bitter.

Sun bathes over the other man; golden brown freckles litter the man’s upper-face. They drink their beer in silence. He sees his vessel’s face, reflecting on the dark brown glass he holds in his hand. The other man bumps his shoulder, and his smile becomes more prominent.

Lucifer pushes back the memory with a grimace. He would never understand the subtle things in the memory, the things that were purely, disgustingly.. human. The faint smiles, the skin-to-skin contact that was so desperately needed, the silence as they drink.

Lucifer flinches slightly, raising his fingers to his temple. “Sam,” The archangel says softly,”It’s quite alright, if you wish to speak then just do so. You have nothing to fear from me.”

**N-No this isn’t possible.**

“It is, Sam because here I am,” Lucifer says for the simple fact that it is.

**Y-You… How? What happened? I don’t.. I can’t remember a damn thing.**

Lucifer straightens in his chair, a smile tugging at his lips as he answers,”Think back, Sam. What is the last thing you remember?”

**I don’t…. I can’t – _The cave._**

The feral vampires, all fangs and guttural growls, had surprised them. Sam was trying to hold his own, but then as he was preparing to dish out another strike, one of them intertwined their clammy, bony fingers around his wrist. The hunter gasped as another one knocked him down on his knees, breathless, he feels them incline his head forcefully to the side. He smells their rotting breaths intermingling with the other foul smells lurking in the cave. And then a dozen needles drove down into his throat.

Sam had called out for Dean before his jugular vein was ripped out of his throat along with a huge chunk of his flesh. Blood spurting everywhere, dank darkness all around him, on his knees in the dirt and helpless at the cold hands of a bloodsucker. The pain flared white hot, radiating out to his whole body. When he felt himself being thrown to the floor, dragged away, the needles driving down for another attack, he blacked out.

**Dean! Where is he? Where the hell is my brother? ...Castiel, Jack - Where are they – What happened…?**

“That is a long story,” The archangel responds with a tired sigh,”But there is nothing for you to worry about. I brought you back, and in a way, you did the same for me. You, Sam Winchester, have provided me with the perfect vessel I have so long craved.”

**I didn’t say yes. I would never, ever yes.. not again. I would’ve told you to go to hell.**

Hell - that was the fierce word, the word to threaten children if they were too bad, the word to send shivers down a spine. Images of fiery demons whose barbed tails coiled and snapped, their whips sharp, their horns like mighty rocks thrusting from their heads. He remembers wings reaching far and wide to swallow the man that dare stand before them. A cage with two beings of light that prey upon a single mortal, while the other cowers in the corner; too feeble to even open his mouth for his brother.

... **this isn’t like before… The last time, I didn’t have this much control. I can actually –**

Lucifer is startled as he feels his fingers begin to shift, but not of his own accord. The archangel frowns, inclining his head forward as he asks,“…Before?,” Then realization dawned upon him and he smirks,“Oh, you think I am your Lucifer. No, Sam, your Lucifer is dead, I made sure of that myself.

**Dead? No. That’s not possible. _None_ of this is.**

“Sam, this is not like any other possession you’ve endured. In fact,” The archangel halts for a moment, contemplating how to explain this to his vessel,”.. it’s less of a possession, and more of a mutualistic relationship, which explains why you still have some control over your vessel. In fact, I bet if you put enough focus into it, you’d be able to gain full usage of your body back. Go on… _try_.”

Sam surges forward at once, managing to surprise Lucifer. The body the two of them were sharing jerked back, and his hand gripped at his heart as his body went into convulsions. Suddenly, his shoulders began throwing themselves forward and nearly shooting past his head as spit and vomit began to collect itself in the back of his throat. Gasping, Sam vomited on the floor of the coffee shop.

Lucifer chuckles in the back of his mind. **That didn’t go as smoothly as you wanted, did it?**

Frowning at the floor, Sam slowly straightened and used the back of his forearm to wipe the spit from the corners of his mouth. Then his eyes laid on the multiple corpses littered throughout the room. The hunter gaps softly, his hand going over his mouth as he takes a step aback, nearly tripping on the couple mangled on the floor. At that, he nearly vomits a second time.

“Did… _Did I do this?_ ” Sam questions.

**They’re here as leverage, so that you’ll listen to what I have to say, Sam.**

“If they were leverage, they’d be alive,” Sam snarls.

Lucifer snorts at that. **Too much noise. But, we both know I can bring them back, just like I brought you back. I may not be your Lucifer, but you know… You know what I can do.**

“Y-You brought me back? Why?”

**Oh, well, I’m getting to that.**

Sam shakes his head, running his fingers through his hair as he chokes out,”What do you want?”

**What do I want…? Sam, I think that it’s rather obvious… given the circumstances.**

“What do you want?” Sam screams, his nostrils flaring as the fingers in his hair clench, damn near pulling strands from his scalp.

Lucifer’s voice is low and soft but powerful enough to send chills through Sam’s body. **Sam I want a chance to prove to you that you are mine… Wholly and completely as all vessel’s should be. Your world’s angels, they’ve taken the sacred, profound relationship that an angel and a vessel are meant to share. And they’ve twisted it, tainted it! You obviously want me to give you up as my vessel… Fine. But I’m not giving up you up, not until I at least get a chance to show you…**

“What are you getting at, Lucifer?” Sam asks, pacing, wincing when he nearly steps on the hand of one of the bodies,“Just tell me what you want from me.”

**Gladly. I’m willing to walk about this world, your world, Sam, but leave it as it is. I will do it, just for you. On one condition. You give me a single month of your time. I wish to use that time convince you, that as angel and vessel, we are meant to stay together. To be one. How’s that for the deal of the century?**

Sam’s mouth is dry, and his heart is beating too fast,”What happens if you can’t convince me? Will you leave… but leave my world alone?”

**After that month, I will leave, yes. I will seek out another vessel, of course, and will I allow your world to suffer for what my world did? No.**

“Why?”

**Because, Sam. I know that this world’s Lucifer was one of the many that… tarnished the relationship we are supposed to have. I want to believe we can have this, have us, without having to hurt you.**

“You’re in my head... You’ve already seen what he’s done,” Sam says quietly,”Every single damn thing.”

" _I hope you’re not expecting me to apologize, Sam. I don't regret anything I've done. You're mine, remember?” Lucifer traces a finger over Sam’s bare arm, his voice low as he claims. He’s still wearing the president’s face as his lips pull into a smile,”But I can be good. This thing between us, the going around and around without stopping, it’s making me dizzy. We don't have to be at odds anymore. We can fix this."_

_"You’ve said you’d change a hundred times before. You didn't,” Sam answers, curt with disbelief as he pulls away from his touch,”You don't want to, Lucifer. You’ve never wanted to before. Tell me, what’s different now?”_

_The archangel gives a stubborn shake of his head and hisses,”Sam, we don't have anything pulling us apart now! There are no strings on us! No script to follow. From this point forward it’s just you and me.”_

“ _We both know that's the farthest thing from the truth,” The human scoffs, sitting up to button his shirt._

_Lucifer's gaze slides over all of Sam, and then he pats the bed again. Sam doesn't even look in his direction. The human keeps his gaze on the ratty motel blanket kicked to their feet, the sweat and blood tinged sheets clinging to their damp bodies. The archangel reaches a hand out, gently settling it upon his cheek, making the latter flinch as he tries to move away._

“ _True. You’ve always had a nose for sniffing out my lies,” Lucifer compliments, tone too sugary sweet as he rubs his thumb over Sam’s smooth cheek,”You were made for me for a reason, Sammy.”_

_Sam doesn't pull away from the touch, but his voice breaks as he states,”Like a cage is made to properly contain an animal."_

“ _Aw, you don’t give yourself enough credit, Sam,” And Lucifer slumps halfway back down on the bed again, fidgeting,”I want you to come away with me. Run away like you always have, run to me, but this time, when you find me... stay with me. I would never make you feel alone, abandoned, like a toy that’s never played with. You would always be with me, I'd be right there, like you want me to be - Like you’ve always wanted me to be. And I would give you anything, everything that you’ve always wanted -“_

“ _Don’t," Sam's voice wavers. His fingers are still clasped on the final button, and they hang there for a moment. Then they settle on his lap._

“ _There is no going back. Don’t you understand? You can't undo what that idiot angel friend of your’s did, and I'm not just going to move on,” The archangel declares pulling his hand as if burned,”If I could, I would have by now. But I can’t. Neither of us can.”_

_The human stands, steps into his discarded boxers and pulls them on. Then he turns to the latter, his lips parted ever so slightly as he utters,”I am moving on. I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back, Lucifer. Not this time, not ever again.”_

“ _Sam. I know you love me. And I don't want to hurt you. We both know I can be so, so good to you, when you don’t force my hand,” Lucifer’s voice starts to shake and he stands up behind Sam, his arms going around his waist, pulling him close to his chest,”We both know you want me. Why is it so hard to admit that you missed me? That you still want me? Need me even?”_

“ _Get off,” Sam gasps, overwhelmed. Lucifer kisses his neck, and then his hands are on Sam's waist, undoing Sam's belt,”You’re not keeping me here.”_

“ _No, I’m not. This is your choice,” Lucifer remarks, his hands moving from his belt to settle on his flat, toned stomach,”But before you make up your mind, you should probably go pee on a stick first.”_

**Yes. I’ve seen it all, Sam. But I am not him. I am from an entirely different world, where I’ve been influenced by different events and characters.**

“But you hate… _despise_ humans,” Sam didn’t know much about this Lucifer, but this is the one solid fact that transverses through both versions of him.

 **Yes, all except you, Sam.** Lucifer responds honestly, his tone is soft, almost warm. **And do I want the rest to live? No. But if I have to forget about the rest of them, to have you? I will.**

“No. You would never give me up as your vessel,” Sam spits out,”I’m not giving you a chance to trick me, to spew your lies. Let me go, now -“

**Oh? And why would I do that? “Spew my lies” as you say?**

“Because it’s what you do. You promise the world, but only present ashes,” The hunter chokes out defiantly,”You cannot do good, much less be good. So if you think I’m going to let you manipulate me... use me again, you truly are a stupid son of a bitch.”

Lucifer sounds almost hurt when he exclaims. **But you do not know me, Sam. I am not your Lucifer!**

“You are one in the same.”

**Really? And what have I done that makes it so you draw this conclusion?**

“You possessed me without my consent -“ Sam was still waiting to hear how in the hell he managed that one.

**Had I not you would be dead.**

Sam grits his teeth, and snarls,”I have been ready to die countless times, but others never seem it fit for me to do so.”

**...You wish to die?**

“I have for long time.”

**Sam, when I explain things... you will see that I am not the same as your world’s Lucifer. I am different. Had it not been for me -**

“I don’t care!” Sam growls, with a scathing tone,”Dean will save me. He won’t let you have me -“

**Dean? _Your brother, Dean?_ Don’t make me laugh!**

“Dean will save me. He’s done it time and time again.”

**Oh, has he? Sam, I’ve been inside your head. From what I’ve seen, Dean seems to have let you down time and time again. Locking you up in a metal box when you were drinking demon blood, and clocking you before you could even explain yourself! Dismissing your feeble cries for help. Got pissed at you, you, when you ran away from your not-too-happy home life. Oh, sure, he’s saved you...**

“No-” Sam began, raising his voice before stopping himself,”You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

**Let’s not forget about... how he feels about you. I’ve seen it, Sam. The way he stares at you. The way he holds you a little longer than necessary. The obsession -**

_Dean is sitting on a small wooden chair that makes his hulking frame look twice as massive, his bulging arms and legs tied tightly to those of his seat. The chair is placed in the middle of a life-sized devil’s trap. The older man looks up, shadows dancing across the sharp structure of his face as his lips part into a jutting smirk. His emerald green eyes suddenly flash and turn black as oil spills—reflecting nothing, absorbing everything._

“ _Seriously, Sammy. You should hear some of the dirty thoughts that I have locked away deep, deep down. Shit, I bet you’d love to know just how crazy I am to see you in these handcuffs,” Dean purrs, his tongue gliding over his lips. Then he’s pulling up against the hand cuffs, leaning forward._

_Dean goes on and on, describing in vivid detail how his feelings for his brother aren’t exactly brotherly. “When you were barely ten years old, I knew I was going to Hell because when you turned on your side and your lips brushed against my neck... God. Right then and there, I wanted to kiss you senseless, steal your fucking breath -“_

Sam remembers sobbing in the bathroom for hours after his brother was cured, trying to stifle his vomit.

**The pure unbridled want he has for you -**

“N-no, no, no, no,” Sam gasps out, nearly heaving again. He closes his eyes and wrings his hands in his lap.

**It’s actually kind of cute. I mean you’re both strapping young men with daddy issues – It’s a fangirl’s dream!**

“Stop! Just stop,” Sam is close to emptying the contents of his stomach as he pleads,”Please, just stop.”

**…So you see, Dean isn’t going to save you. Not this time around anyway. How would he anyway, Sam? He’s just a human, just like your dear, sweet mother. And don’t even get me started on that subpar angel friend of yours. He probably gets winded moving a pencil. Oh, and, Jack… How could I forget? Poor kid…**

Sam’s posture stiffens and his muscles go rigid. “Jack,” He chokes out licking his dry lips,”What happened to him? What did you do?”

**I didn’t do a thing to him. You have this world’s Lucifer to thank for that. In a last ditch effort to gain the upper hand, he stole his own son’s grace. And a nephilim’s grace, well, it’s the only thing that keeps them stable and without it, he’ll soon begin to fall apart. Unless of course, you agree…**

“No, I-I can’t… I swore that I’d never, ever… Not again.”

**You’d let your own flesh and blood son die just so you can have a tiny semblance of control? Sam, even if you do say no to this once-in-life-time deal, I won’t let you go. At least with this deal you at least have a chance of going free. Of saving your son!**

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This is definitely a trap. Sam argues with himself, but then another thought bubbles up. Lucifer can’t lie to him. As angel and vessel they can try and lie, but the other will always be able to tell. Even then, his world’s Lucifer, the one he knew, never lied to him. This is one promise that the devil always kept, and this one was likely no different.

Practicality soon follows on its heels, Sam’s realism always reliable. And if it all goes to shit, well, he’s bought Dean and Cas and everyone more time. He doesn’t the know the extent to this different form of possession he’s having to endure – mutualistic relationship – but he does know he does have some form of control over his vessel. He and the devil can switch in-and-out of control, although not smoothly. Deep, deep down, Sam knows what is best.

“Fine. Let’s do this,” Sam finally decides before his voice can betray him,”But I have my own terms,” He swallows heavily, before continuing,”I listened, so you bring everyone in here back, but you erase their memories of ever being dead, okay?” He feels some form of recognition resound in his head, so he goes on,”I want you to explain every single damn detail of what’s happened since… Since you possessed me without my consent. Then as soon as you’re done explaining, we are going to Jack and you are giving him enough grace to save him! And finally, during the remaining entirety of this month, we won’t go near any of the people I care about. I don’t want them – I don’t want them to see me like this.”

**All fair. But don’t worry Sam, I will allow you some free reign throughout the month. For now, I will be taking the wheel again.**

Before Sam can even voice an objection he feels Lucifer taking control from him; taking what was rightfully Sam’s. The hunter pushes back, unwilling to give up control that easy. He begins pushing memories at the devil, a desperate attempt to try and distract him. He gives up what little, precious privacy he has because he’s desperate not to lose control again… to be pushed back into the black.

Sam’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. His body began to rack back and forth, he threw himself to the ground, and began to have what he could only call a seizure. Then he felt it, all control over his limbs slipped away, and he felt himself being pushed back, back… far away. He’s still there, he can still hear, see, taste, smell, but he is simply not there.

Lucifer chuckles, and states,”Sam, that was very foolish of you to try. Though I do commend your efforts. For now, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to keep a tight grip on these reigns.”

Despite the ever-enveloping black within this nothingness, Sam could still see through his eyes. He wasn't sure how, because there was no discernible light source, but he didn't complain. He would have gone completely mad if he was kept completely in the dark as he was the last time Lucifer – his Lucifer – possesses him. Distantly, he hears Lucifer snap his fingers, and all of a sudden all of the coffee shops residents are up and about, bustling like nothing happened.

Lucifer turns on his heel, and exits the shop. He puts his hands in his coat-pockets, and goes forward with his collar popped against the cold wind, and light drizzle of rain. As they walked further and further, less people began to pass by, until they were entirely alone. That’s when the devil began to speak again,”I’ll start from the beginning, or the end, I suppose… the cave,” Lucifer began as he continued walking down the street,”Is how I first found you. You were given an offer by my counterpart, and when you denied him... He was none too pleased.”

_Metal squeaks overhead as a single fan above rotates back and forth, back and forth. The sound is almost maddening, to those still alive to even hear it. The feral vampires roaming about the cave paid no mind to it, for their pointy ears only perked at the sound of footsteps. Their ears had peeled when a solitary figure made their way into the cave, but as waves of them dove forward, they were parted like the Red Sea. For their potential prey was not prey at all, but an archangel - An archangel that did not appreciate having jaws snapped in his direction. So, the few creatures that did not get the memo that they were in a little over their heads, were gone with a snap of fingers. The ones that had managed to stay in line simply followed the higher being into a deeper part of the cave, until they were all swarming at the entryway were one of their earlier meals still lay._

_Sam Winchester lay still on the dirt floor, his brown hair was scattered in multiple places, stained with dried blood; crimson. His hazel hues were wide open, but his irises held a sudden horror. His lips were parted ever so slightly as if his final breath was still being exhaled. The archangel, Lucifer, rests his eyes upon this corpse, not unblinking but slowed. It is his lips that give away hit intention, not quite smiling but tilting as if they mean to. In short, he is staring and there seems no end to his fascination. The only time his gaze breaks is when he reaches a curious hand forward, and tangles his fingers in the latter’s hair, turning his head to the other side._

_Lucifer pulls his fingers away, and settles on a rock a few feet away. “Wake up,” He commands, his voice resounding in the cave._

_Sam lies still for a moment, before he comes gasping to life. The hunter clutches at this throat, gasping and breathing heavily as he scrambles across the floor on his arms. He hoists himself partway up, settling himself on his elbows as he attempts to even his heavy breathing. With a grunt his eyes flicker around the seemingly empty cave._

_“Boo!”_

_Sam chokes on his own gasp, stumbling back a few feet. With his back against the wall, quite literally, he dares lift his gaze to the supreme being before him. Without even realizing it, his thumb slots into the deep scar in his palm, digging into the jagged plot of flesh. When the archangel doesn’t flicker away with a snarky comment, he knows that this is real._

_“Hey, Sammy,” Lucifer greets, his mouth settled in an almost wolffish grin,”No. Yeah,” He lets out a long sigh,”I mean, you could do the whole pinch yourself, rub your eyes thing, or you could put on your big boy pants and just, you know, cut right to the realization that yep, it's me.”_

_“Y-you -- you... You brought me back,” Sam inquires his voice one of confusion._

_Lucifer steps closer, and confirms,”I did,” He ran his fingers against Sam’s lower shoulder and then up his neck, the drying blood coming away, and then he stuck out his tongue and very sensually ran his bloodied fingers along it,”You're welcome.”_

_Sam flinches and closes his eyes. Lucifer’s vessel was alive, so alarmingly and tantalizingly alive, warm and breathing and vulnerable. Lucifer felt some part of himself ache to feel him, in love with reigning over him, hearing his whole body moving and working. He put his hand to the human’s cheek-His eyes flew open._

_The human’s lips turn into a thin line and he growls,”Why?”_

“ _Oh, well, I'm getting to that,” The archangel says, slowly pulling his hand away._

_“T-The rift. The rift,” Sam’s eyes widen in abrupt horror as he realizes,”Rowena.”_

“ _She’s okay. I mean, I-I was gonna kill her, but she blasted me here before I had a chance to, so... It's great, self-defense,” Lucifer shrugs and says,”But, uh, I was coming here anyway.”_

_Sam gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head as he points out,”But we drained you.”_

_“So how did I have the juice to pull off my little Lazarus trick? Uh, that's a long story, but I was basically tracking you here, and then I came across a handful of Michael's angels and I...” Lucifer rocks back and forth on his heels as he purses his lips and states,”...ate 'em. I guess it's not really a long story, is it?”_

_Sam takes a tentative step forward and narrows his eyes. “What do you want?”_

_“What do I want? I want what everyone wants. I want a personal apology from Pop. I want rerun-free, year-round episodes of Drag Race -“_

_“Yeah, got it. Okay, right. We're done here,” Sam grits out. He slowly leans down, still keeping an eye on the latter as he picks up his backpack._

_“Are you going?” When Sam doesn’t answer he pulls out a flashlight and offers it,”Here. It's dark out there.”_

_Sam pulls out his own flashlight from the side pocket of his backpack with a scowl and clicks on the light. He turns on his heel, and takes a few steps forward before facing his flashlight forward. He stumbles back and nearly drops his flashlight as growls like the sound of a thousand nightmarish ghouls resound. The feral vampires that had ended his life once before stood mere inches away, all of them gathered in a pack with a seemingly invisible barrier keeping them from coming any closer. God, Sam had never seen them in close light. Not even when their teeth and claws tore at his still warm flesh. His eyes are glued to on one in the front. It’s skin is wrinkled like a dried prune and thick like leather, it’s bipedal with long arms and a small head. It’s jaws were made up of inch long teeth, all serrated like a steak knife._

_“Yeah, they're sorta... sorta all over there, and I'm holding them back. They're just waiting for a little snap of the fingers, but I didn't want 'em flooding in here and eatin' ya again,” A grin spread over the archangel’s face, wide and open, showing his teeth. In that moment his motives were laid bare; he was a mocker, one who enjoyed whatever torment he could inflict on others,”After we finished our convo.”_

_The growling continues as Sam turns around, nostrils flaring with a cry of,”What do you want,” escaping his lips._

_The grin turns into a thin line and Lucifer slowly edges closer to Sam. He hisses, like the snake that he is,”I want what you already have -- a relationship with our son,” He sharply,”Okay, there was a time that I would, you know, just grab him, but... I've grown.”_

_Sam actually scoffs at that, barely suppressing a roll of his eyes. He takes a step back away from the latter, before saying,”Yeah, sure you have.”_

_The archangel ignores him, takes another step forward, and continues,”I have, Samuel. I want our son, and you're gonna help me. How? Well, I don't feel like he'll give me a chance unless I come bearing gifts,” He sticks out two fingers and flicks the human’s nose as he says,” Yep. Boop! That's you. Look, Sammy, I'm -- I'm not asking you to -- to like it or to like me. All I'm asking is that you acknowledge the truth, that I was the one who brought you back to life, that I was the one who lifted you from the darkness and into the light. Okay?”_

_Sam’s slender fingers pressed into the skin of his forearms, nails biting in the layer of dirt and crusty blood, drawing fresh beads of blood. He takes another step back, and flinches as he feels the solidness of the wall behind him. It felt as if his whole body was shaking, like his bones were rattling. Heart pounding so hard against his ribcage as his pulse pressed outward, jerking the veins within. But none of this ever made it to his facial muscles or skin. His complexion remained pale and matt, and his eyes steady._

“ _Apocalypse World, Michael's armies -- you really think you and your family can handle that stuff alone?” Lucifer takes the final step closer, cornering the latter into the wall, and he trailed his fingers down the edge of his jawline,” You need me.”_

_Sam flinches away from the touch, keeping his head turned as the fingers instead settle in his hair. “And what if I say no?”_

_Lucifer clears his throat and his fingers scrunch into Sam’s mess of hair. Sam tried to pull away but Lucifer tightens his hold and pushes his head back until his throat was exposed. And for a second as the archangel dipped down, he wondered if he’d imprint on his neck as the feral vampires had just a few hours before._

_Lucifer licks his lips, and draws away after a moment and whispers,”Right, let me just make this really, really, really easy -- easy enough for even you to understand, Sammy. I'm gettin' to Jack one way or the other. The only question is, you coming with? Or that?” The vampire’s growls steadily grow louder, almost as if they all anticipated the blood bath that would come,”Your move, champ.”_

_Sam stares intently into Lucifer’s eyes, his nostrils flaring as his breath begins to quicken again. Lucifer reached out again, running the back of his hand across the latter’s cheek._

_The human’s breath caught. His eyes widened. No mistaking that gesture, the intimate nature of it. The sensual lingering of a cool hand just under his eye, a fingertip over his lip. His lips brush the human’s cheek. Not innocently, like a tease but rough, scalding, and demanding._

“ _S-stop,” Sam manages to grit out, his lips trembling as the single finger against them presses harder._

“ _Your heart," Lucifer whispered, staring at the spot over Sam’s chest,”It’s like a bird in there, just fluttering in a mad panic."_

_Putting his hand over his chest as if covering himself, Sam swallowed once, pulling his head away from the archangel’s hand. Then all of a sudden, the angel was closer to him, holding him in his arms like a snake around a mouse, flush against his body. A kiss, coppery and hot, pressed to his mouth and stole entry, forcing a long taste that the human could not stop. He slanted his head further, deepening the kiss. Without thinking, he’s reaching out an arm to shove him away from him. But his efforts to cease the latter’s touches were half-hearted at best - no sense in wasting energy fighting a losing battle._

_Sam lets out an involuntary whine. Lucifer feels every frantic, fluttering heartbeat as he presses against Sam’s chest, and only relents when spots begin to dance across Sam’s vision from a dangerous lack of oxygen. When Lucifer realizes Sam isn’t kissing back, his lips go completely still against his, before he removes them entirely. There is a line of saliva as their lips pull apart, but the archangel doesn’t move a damn inch further. The human’s lips are red and swollen, his eyes are blown wide, and his breathing is quickened._

_Lucifer’s voice is uncharacteristically calm as he, utters”Don’t tell me you’re deciding on crossing your legs now? Do you recall back in the cage, when I fucked you relentlessly to see if maybe I could get us to pop out a kid? Of course when that idiot angel friend of your’s stole your body that plan went right out the window - But year’s later, I finally got what I wanted... A son fresh and hot from the oven, made by my favorite human.”_

_Sam crinkles his nose in disgust, and spits out,”And what about Kelly?”_

_“Oh,” Lucifer utters, mock surprise in his voice,”The incubator.”_

_The human pinches his lips together,”She was more to our son than you or I will ever be.”_

_“Still keeping your role in the whole thing on the down-low, huh?” The archangel hisses,”Whatever. It’s time to make up your mind, Sammy. So tick-tock. You coming or not?”_

_Sam has a grim twist of the mouth before he answers,”You know my answer, Lucifer. You know what my answer will always be… Go to hell!” And with arms open wide he walks into the flock of snarling beasts with the archangel screaming his name behind him._

“That’s when I found you,” Lucifer says stopping in front of the revolving doors of a large hotel,”And our mutualistic realistic relationship began.”


	2. An Awkward Walk To Dayton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story continues, though there are some unnecessary interruptions on Lucifer’s part, much to Sam’s annoyance. And then they have to go on a rescue mission.

  _The cave isn’t empty. While there is a corpse, bodies don’t tend to make good company. Nor do feral vampires. No, there is something living in the cave. Though one can’t promise that it’ll be good company either. In the deepest darkest corner of the cave, a glowing mass is gathered. It is the last remaining bits and pieces of an archangel._

  _Lucifer is still recovering from his last battle with Michael, and he was thought to be dead. It was his vessel that had suffered the fatal blow, his older brother had thought he’d dealt. So, the pulsating ball of grace had hidden in the putrid, rotting pits of the first cave he’d come across. He hadn’t expected to encounter anything other than some uninteresting mud monkey corpses. But this one, this one was different._

_Sam Winchester’s soul still lingered in his corpse - Trapped in a world that was not his own. Lucifer rose from the center of the cave’s floor, hushing Sam’s soul in soothing tones, cold air wafted across the cave with every shush. The archangel’s true face made the mere human soul wish he could go blind and insane, but the angel would never let him. It hurt and he could feel it there. But it was sublime. Beautiful beyond words._

_Lucifer reached out, a tendril along Sam's cold cheekbones, back and forth until the boy’s old tears were gone. It ran another tendril gently down and up Sam's hair, the cold dipping running through each strand. The tendrils of light pulled tight around his waist, catching the corpse and lifting it up. The soul watched as the thing lifted him in the air, holding his body like his older brother would when he was a wee infant._

_Lucifer fuses into him with his tendrils of grace. He twists and molds his very essence into the veins and arteries, commands flesh to knit itself back together, and watches as it obeys. The corpse’s throat pieces itself back together, healing into a smooth expanse of skin. The heart in his chest begins to beat steady like a drum, blood returning to the eerily pale skin. A rosiness rises in his cheeks and his lips begin to fill and moisten._

_Suddenly, the body draws a breath and Sam’s eyes snap open. His hands reach out, grabbing at something that isn’t there. Before he can have any semblance of control in his newly formed body, the archangel pushes forward seizing the reins. And there’s no resistance. This was not like any other possession. No, this was different. Rather than claiming the body as his own, he felt like he was lugging forward a sack of meat with puppet strings._

_Sam Winchester’s body fit Lucifer like a glove, even though he wasn’t even in full possession of the body. “You’re different,” The archangel utters flexing his hands forward, and making fists,”You feel different than anyone I’ve ever shared a body with. You feel... right. Who are you, Sam Winchester?”_

Lucifer was peeling off the clothes he’d outfitted on Sam’s body as he finished talking. He tugged off the pea coat, draped it over the couch and then began to pull off his white turtleneck. Sam was silent, uncomfortable at the sight of someone else stripping his body. Almost as if sensing his discomfort, Lucifer stops for a second and sighs.

 “If you want, you can wash your own body,” Lucifer says motioning towards his new nude body,”I don’t believe I feel... comfortable enough to bath us.”

  **Please.** Sam pleads.

Sam gasps and nearly cries in relief as he can feel control shift over to him. Lucifer is complacent in the back of his head, humming softly to a song he doesn’t know. He masks his way into the bathroom and steps into the shower, toes flinching as they touched the chilled ceramic. He turned the dial, old and metallic, releasing thousands of lukewarm drops, darkening his hair and trickled down his back.

“Can you continue?” Sam asks aloud.

Lucifer’s humming stops and he states. **I can, but I thought you’d want a break. It’s a lot to take in.**

Sam scoffs and tilts his head back, the water cascading over his unshaven face. “I can handle it,” He pinched his lips together and states,”Now continue.”

Lucifer is silent for a moment, before there’s an audible sigh. **Very well.** Then there’s a chuckle and what sounds like a wolf whistle.

“Something to add?” Sam growls, grabbing the complimentary thing of shampoo and squirting it into his palm. He begins scratching it into his scalp, running his fingers through his long hair.

 **I’ve possessed many a man, Sam Winchester, but none of have been nearly as well endowed as you.** Lucifer says with a casualness that’s disturbing.

Sam nearly slips in the shower, but manages to grab the curtain just in time. “Lucifer,” He hisses, crossing his legs. He’s silent for a moment before he sputters,”Just - _Ugh_. Just get on with it!”

 **Hat’s off, there, Sam. That was one potent combination of verbal diarrhea and stunned silence.** Sam rolls his eyes as he hears another chuckle from Lucifer. **Alright, then - I’m just going to skip the whole awkward trek to the camp.**

A  _siren went off, alerting the entire camp of an intruder and within seconds all of the hardened and wary hunters were pulling out angel blades and easing out their guns. Somehow Dean knew, even before Sam practically dragged himself through the gates, even before his eyes took in the torn and frayed flannel and jeans and the tousled mess of bloodied hair. His little brother was pale and dirty and covered in blood, and his face was stone cold and resigned. But, he didn’t care because there he was – alive and staring into his eyes._

_“Sam,” Jack gasps, relieved. Next to him, Castiel lets out his own relieved sigh and smiles shakingly. Mary’s hands go over her mouth as her supposedly dead baby boy takes unsteady steps further into the camp. Even Gabriel grins from ear-to-ear at the sight of his human friend._

_“...Dean," Lucifer questions with Sam’s voice, taking a shaky step in his direction. He stares at his vessel’s brother as if it’s the first time, inclining his head to the side. His neck is coated in crimson, cracking dried blood but there’s no sign of any wound._

_“Sam!” Dean exclaims taking a step forward, wrapping his arms around his brother and pulling him close. Lucifer tenses agonist the body pressed against him as if it was a serpent that had enclosed him rather than his vessel’s brother. He’d prefer the serpent, if he was being honest._

_As Dean releases him from the embrace, Lucifer takes a step back giving him the closest thing to a smile he can manage. A blonde woman, several inches shorter than him, comes forward with a small smile and her arms open - Not another hug! But he’s pulled into her, so he pats her back and tries to bite back his aggravated noises. His fellow angels at least have the decency to just give him a back pat and a smile. Though he sees the sub-par seraph try to go in for a hug and quickly evades it, pretending not to notice it._

_Lucifer thinks that at last the reunion is over, when all of a sudden the nephilim, Jack, launches at him like a rocket. His arms ravel around his torso and he presses his head against his chest. The archangel remembers the nephilim from his vessel’s memories; this is his alternate self’s son. And his very own vessel was the one who conceived him. Apparently this was supposed to be a secret, but as he eyes the boy he notices that he holds some similarities to Sam Winchester. His warm smile and the way his eyes crinkle with it. His long, gangly limbs -_

_Lucifer’s thoughts are interrupted by Dean, who questions,”Wait - H-How? T-that son of a bitch, Lucifer, said that h-he left you for dead.”_

_The archangel quickly scrambles for an explanation,”Um, angels. Michael’s angels,” He rubs the back of his neck and avoids the eyes of all of the beings gathered around him,”They brought me back, so that they could bring me back for interrogation. But I managed to get ahold of one of their angel blades and, that was that.”_

_“Well, the bastards on this earth don’t know us,” Dean says with a chuckle,”They don’t know not to mess with the Winchesters. Come on, Shaun of the Dead, let’s get you changed. You look like hell.”_

Sam was glancing around the room, holding a towel around his torso as he drips onto the carpet below. He eyes a suitcase in the corner of the room, resting against the couch. He grabs it and tosses it onto the bed, unzipping it to find a pair of silk pajamas that even come with a set of matching house shoes. He holds them up for examination and frowns.

 **Unlike you, I have taste.** Lucifer hisses in his head. He hums in thought. **I was thinking of getting them monogrammed -**

Sam rolls his eyes and drops the towel to the floor. He grabs a pair of underwear from the suitcase, and proceeds to dress himself in the ridiculous pajamas. He mutters angrily under his breath as he does so. Lucifer is still chattering nonsensically in his head, going on and on about the fun he had shopping for “them”. The archangel had apparently even gone to the trouble of procuring a good amount of money so that they wouldn’t have to live in squalor for the remainder of their deal.

“Oh, boy,” Sam mutters, sarcastically,”Why’d you stop telling the story?”

**You were thinking about the pajamas.** Lucifer says a matter-of-factly. **I was distracted by your straying thoughts.**

“Whatever, just... Go on.”

_Lucifer is led to one of the many run-down cabins that made of the rather pathetic excuse of a base. The rebels weren’t exactly know for their cleanliness, but for dad’s-sake he’d just nearly avoided stepping in a pile of human feces! Did they not dig holes?! He groans as he avoids another pile, and begins rummaging through his vessel’s jacket pockets. He finds the device human’s referred to as a phone and begins fumbling with it._

_Dean suddenly steps forward, a hard look on his face. Lucifer quickly shoves the device back into his pocket and shakily greets,”Hey,” He gulps audibly,”Listen, I’m sorry about all this.”_

_“Are you good?” Dean questions._

_“I’m alive. Yeah,” Lucifer confirms with a shrug._

_The hunter shrugs and shakes his head. “Well, then you got nothing to apologize for,” And then he grabs him and pulls him into another hug, settling his head against his neck._

_The archangel pats the latter’s back and internally groans as he feels the arms around him tighten. This bro-hug showed no signs of ending. It lasted five, ten, fifteen, thirty seconds - Surely it couldn’t last any longer? He was wrong. Then he heard a sharp inhale and what sounded like a subtle groan. Did he just... smell his vessel?_

_“I thought I’d lost you man,” Dean says at last._

_“I wish,” Lucifer mutters._

_“What?”_

_“What?”_

_Dean shakes his head and clear his throat, before questioning,”What are we gonna do about Lucifer?”_

_Lucifer jolted at his name, almost snapping his fingers out of habit. Then he recalls him mentioning their universe’s devil. The one that had left his current vessel for dead._

_“I’ll handle him,” The archangel says at last,”I will, uh... Uh,” He struggles to remember the latter’s name,”Dean. Let me handle him.”_

_“Okay.”_

_“Where is he anyway?” Lucifer questions out of curiosity, inclining his head to the side._

 

 

_SPNSPN_

 

 

_Lucifer follows Dean to a much larger cabin in the middle of the camp. There he sees Castiel leading his hand-cuffed counter-part by the shoulder. His counter-part’s vessel is one he recognizes, the one he’d used in his last fight with his older, pain-in-the ass brother. It didn’t last too long and had incinerated. He wonders why his counter-part didn’t make more of an effort to procure the vessel he wears now. He’ll have to comb through his memories later to find out._

_Other-Lucifer stops in front of Mary Winchester and cheekily says,”Hey, mama,” He gives a shit-eating grin and asks,”Miss me?”_

_Mary cocked back her arm as if she were winding a watch. With a tremendous force, she released it, and it arced forward, headed straight for the other archangel’s smug face. Her fist landed with a thud on his left cheek, sending ripples of fat cascading back towards his ears, then back forward. He looked like a sputtering seal._

_Lucifer stumbles back into Castiel’s arms with a grunt and asks,”That’s a yes?”_

_“Let’s go!” Castiel growls._

_“Nice shot,” Dean compliments standing beside his mother._

“ _Yeah,” Lucifer agrees with a smirk,”No kidding.”_

_The clothes that the archangel had been outfitted in didn’t quite suit his fine taste. He supposed they were better than the torn and frayed rags he’d been in before, but he still wishes that his tailor hadn’t been eaten by a horde of ghouls. That lowly human outfitted each and every one of his vessels with a talent that not even he could deny. Now he was stuck in a vessel wearing a grey sweater with a camo jacket and what looked to be a pair of mom-jeans._

_“Look mom, we need to find Jack and get the hell out of dodge, before we’re all stuck here,” Dean states bluntly._

_“I, uh... Boys, um,” Mary looks at her feet, and goes on,”About that... I’m not going back.”_

_“I’m sorry. What?” Dean questions with a look of disbelief on his face._

“ _I fought beside these people. I respect them. I respect their cause. You can’t expect me to just abandon them.”_

_Lucifer almost started to laugh, but quickly passed it off as a cough when he got weird looks from both of the hunters._

_“Mom! You heard what that dick-bag said!” Dean exclaims throwing his hands in the air,”We have thirty-one hours-“_

_“I - Dean...” Mary trails off,”Sam... I know what you went though to come find me.”_

_Both Lucifer and Dean scoff at that statement in unison. From what the archangel has seen of his vessel’s memories that was the understatement of the year._

_“But these people are being slaughtered. They need me here!”_

_“No, we need you, mom. We do,” Dean growls with a deep set frown, that makes his eyes crinkle,”We have been mopping up the world for years. Years. We have been knocked down. We’ve been possessed. We’ve lost friends. We’ve lost family. We’ve lost each other. And we never walk away, ever. And sometimes we should’ve because not every fight everywhere can be won. It just can’t,” He turns to the archangel now with an expectant look,”Right? Tell her.”_

_Lucifer has to control the urge to roll his eyes. He takes a deep breath and utters,”I think that maybe... mom made up her mind.”_

_“See,” Dean says with a nod, before he reels,”Wait. What?”_

_Oh for the love of - The things he does to escape his ass-hat of an older brother. He does his best impression of a reasonable look and states,”Mom doesn’t want to leave these people. So why don’t we just take ‘em with us?”_

_“They’ll never leave their home. They’ll never leave their cause-“_

_Lucifer interrupts,”I’m not saying abandon the fight. I’m saying we get them somewhere safe, then we all figure out a way to take down Michael,” He sighs and motions to the space around himself,”Then once we do, they can come back and save their -“ Shithole. “-world.”_

_Mary gives him a warm smile,”You’d do that for them?”_

_“Well, we got... What, nine busting out? What’s a few more? How many are we talking?”_

_Mary bites at her lip and mutters,”Twenty-five.”_

_“Son of a bitch,” Lucifer hisses, making both of the hunters turn and look at him in surprise._

“You’re never going to finish, are you?” Sam questions sitting up from his comfortable position on the very large bed. He runs his hands up and down the soft comforter, admiring the intricate designs that dance beneath his hands.

**You are growing tired. Another disadvantage to this predicament we are in. You’ll still need to do human things; eat, sleep, relieve yourself, ecetera.** Lucifer explains. **It’s best if we continue in the morning. Now sleep.**

It was as if a candle had been extinguished in his head. He fell limp against the mattress, his lips parting to let out a final soft breath as he slips into a deep sleep. His eyes flutter close and he’s out. Rather than dreaming, he instead sees memories that he’s tried to block out.

“But the thing is, with Nephilim, well, they need a human parent. And considering how close we are, well... It’s just meant to be,” Lucifer states with a nonchalant shrug, pointing a finger at Sam’s flat stomach,”Not just counting the fact that you’re the only human that I even tolerate.“

Sam wants to scream, cry, shout - Voice any kind of objection. But he feels the energy coiled below his belly. Feels the power, the change there. And knows Lucifer’s plan worked, that the pregnancy took. He was carrying a nephilim, and that’s all he could think about as he slowly placed his hand on his belly.

He hears the archangel’s voice is in the distance, but not the one he knows. The one that holds him now. **How about this one?** And the memory changes.

“Sam, come on, I can feel you, scratching away in there. I’ll take the gag off, okay? You got me all wrong, kiddo.” Lucifer spoke through Sam’s mouth, “I’m not the bad guy here.”

 **I will tear you apart from the inside. Do you understand me?** Sam screamed inside his mind.

“Such anger… young Skywalker.” Lucifer smirked, “Who are you really angry with? Me? or that face in the mirror?” 

**I’m sure this is all just a big joke to you.**

“Not at all, I’ve been waiting for you for a long, long time. Come on, Sam. You have to admit - you can feel it, right?”

 **Feel what?** Sam knew exactly what Lucifer was talking about though, he could feel it, the power, the strength, the infinite possibilities.

“The exhilaration! And you know what that is? Because we are two halves made whole! M.F.E.O. Literally.”

**This feels pretty damn far from good.**

“I’m inside your grapefruit, Sam. I can feel it all. the loneliness, feeling out of place in that ‘family’ of yours. And why shouldn’t you have? They were foster care, at best, I’m your real family.” Lucifer implored, know that Sam was beginning to fall for it.

 **No, it’s not true!** Sam whispered, trying to find a grip on the situation.

“It is, and I know you know it. All those times you ran away, you weren’t running from them, you were running towards me,” Lucifer sighs, giving his reflection in the mirror a pitying look,”This doesn’t have to be a bad thing, you know. Dean’s alive, I could bring your folks back too. I want you to be happy, Sam.

**I don’t want anything from you!**

“Not even a little payback?” Lucifer said ask he turned to face the people behind him.

**What?** Sam hesitated.

“Look closely. None of these little devils look familiar to you?” Lucifer smirked.

**That’s Mr. Bensman… One of my grade school teachers.**

“And that’s your friend Doug! from your time in East Lansing.” Lucifer exclaimed, “And Rachel… your prom date.”

Sam’s mind snapped. Memories flooded of these people, the ones he trusted, and here they were their true identities revealed. 

“Azazel’s gang watching over you since you were a rugrat. Jerking you around like a dog on a leash. I know how you feel about that. me too,” Lucifer smiled, knowing he had won, “So what do you say you and I blow off a little bit of steam?”

Sam wakes up with a startled gasp, sitting up in the bed. He grips either side of his head and groans loudly through his gritted teeth,”What’s happening? _Fuck_ \- My head!”

 **I set a little internal alarm, just in case anyone you know gets in danger. Can’t just go around losing leverage to little jerk-off idiots, now, can I?** Lucifer purrs.

“Jesus,” Sam groans as the pain in his head eases. His eyes settle on the alarm clock,”It’s still night?”

Lucifer sighed. **I wanted you to get as much sleep as possible so that you could be functioning at full capacity. So I made it so that you’d sleep for a full twenty-four hours.**

“I’m not a fucking battery,” Sam growls sitting up in the bed,”My son, Jack, is he alright?”

Lucifer lets out an exaggerated groan. **He’s fine just a couple of bumps and scrapes. It’s the rest of your brood that I’d be worrying about if I were you. That idiot in the dirty trench coat — does he never wash it — got them into quite the sticky situation.**

“What kind of situation?”

**Demon. Specifically a power hungry demon by the name of Kipling. In my world he was known for always making half-assed attempts to take the throne in my absence, despite the fact he was hardly more than a village idiot with an ego. I even had a pair of stocks built specifically for him so we could throw eggs and tomatoes at him -**

“Focus!” Sam snaps as he begins to strip down,”We’re intervening before anything goes down -“

**And what makes you think I’ll go for that? They can handle an uppity demon on their own just fine. You worry too much! It’s going to gray that beautiful head of hair of your’s - !**

Sam sits down on the edge of the bed in the middle of pulling on a pair of dress pants. He runs his fingers through his unruly bed-hair and let’s out a shaking breath,”Lucifer, please. I don’t like this situation. Not one bit,” He runs a hand over his face and continues,”Please, please, just get them out of there.”

**Please? _Please._ Ah, you got me, Sammy. You know how I admire a man that says please. One problem, you don’t exactly have a handle on my powers - So I’m going to have to take the reins.**

“...Do it.”

Sam feels Lucifer push forward, pressing him back down into the dark as gently as a lover pushes one into the bed. The human feels himself being eased into the same spot where he observes what’s happening when he’s not in control of his body. Lucifer let’s out a soft chuckle and flexes his body, making a fist and undoing it as he adjusts to having control again.

“I’ll say,” Lucifer starts with a smile,”That went a lot smoother than last time. See how much easier things are when you’re willing? We’re working in tandem now, Sam.”

**I wouldn’t linger on it too much. Now, do your thing.**

The archangel raises a single hand in the air and presses two fingers together. “As you wish,” He says before snapping his fingers. Suddenly he’s outfitted in jean-blue button up with a white dinner jacket and matching dress pants.

**Was changing really necessary?**

“Like I’d let us enter the scene in pajamas,” Lucifer states, standing in front of the body-length mirror to adjust the jacket over their shared body,”Besides, I’m one for dramatic entrances.”

 

 

SPNSPN

 

 

Kipling let’s out an annoyingly overexaggerated sigh and leans back on one of the bar stools. “But a King has an image to maintain. And I’m not afraid of you. But they are. So take the deal, Dean, before I stop trying to be Crowley. And I show you who I really am. So what do you say, darling?”

Dean inclines his head forward, pursing his lips together, before answering,“How about - _Hell no._ ”

“A-are you sure because I know things. All sorts of things,” Kipling exclaims with a faltering smile.

“Okay, buddy. I think I’ve heard enough.”

“I guess its true what the say - The bigger one really is the smarter one. Much, much smarter. He would at least consider a once in a life time opportunity like this,” The wanna-be Crowley hisses, his hands balling into fists at his sides,”It’s a shame he’s a little... preoccupied.”

“Shut your fucking trap!” Dean yells pointing a finger in the demon’s face,”Don’t you dare even mention him.”

Kipling’s lips twitch into a smirk and pulls out an angel blade from his jacket. “Then I guess there’s really no point in keeping you or any of your buddies around if there’s not going to be a deal -“ He’s interrupted by the overhead lights starting to flicker and sway from side to side.

Kipling glances up, slowly pulling away the angel blade he was brandishing. The lights cease flashing but the speakers crackle to life with Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” playing. All of the other demons burst into nervous chatter, a good majority of them starting to edge towards the exits.

Abruptly there’s a rush of air and a towering figure is leaning against the bar, his back turned to everyone in the room. There’s a tumbler in his hand with an amber liquid filling it about halfway and three ice cubes clinking against the sides. He twirls it in his hands and downs it with a wince.

“Hello, boys,” Lucifer greets in a piss-poor English accent. He smirks and turns on the bar stool so that he’s leaning on his elbows against the bar table.

“S-Sammy?” Dean utters, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“Sam,” Jack whispers, slowly straightening in the arms of the demon holding him.

Nearly every hunter in the room states in enraptured horror at the body of their friend, companion, brother, being manipulated by that of an archangel. The devil’s eyes flash red over his vessel’s natural hazel hues as they flicker over everyone in the room. They finally settle on the demon responsible for the whole mess.

“L-Lucifer,” Kipling chokes out his eyes wide as saucers. His lips form a shaky smile,”What brings you here? Surely this Winchester isn’t any of your concern?”

Lucifer is humming along to the song playing over the speakers, making motions with his hands so that his drink refills without any hands on work. “Love this song,” He states taking a sip of his drink,”Sorry, you were saying?”

“Had I known that you were truly back, I would have never, ever made a move for the throne -“

“I have no interest in the throne,” Lucifer says coolly, his tongue running over his lips as he continues,”The only reason I am even lifting a finger here is because my vessel asked oh-so-nicely. I’ll let him decide what to with you. Sammy?”

At the nickname, Dean snarls,”Don’t call him that.”

 **Shut it, Dean.** Sam growls from the confines of his head. **Do what you will with the demons. Just let everyone else go.**

“Very well,” The archangel concedes with a nod, before taking a short pause,”... _Sammy_.” He stands up and rolls his shoulder blades back, the shadows of his wings unfurling against the wall of the bar as he makes both of his hands into fists.

Simultaneously all of the demons fall to their knees, their eyes burning white hot as their mouths contort into shapes matching their screams. The temperature of the room steadily rose as steam emanated from all of the bodies, the smell of burning flesh nearly inducing vomit from all of the humans. Abruptly all of the bodies fall to the ground completely, dead.

Lucifer sighs, slowly lowering his hands to his sides and states,”No need to thank me,” His eyes go over everyone on the room until they settle on the former-nephilim,”You, we need to have a quick chat.”

Jack opens his mouth to object, but Lucifer is already beside him putting a hand on his shoulder. With a rush of air they’re both gone.

 

 

SPNSPN

 

 

Jack stumbles against a row of garbage cans when they land, wheezing as he tries to take in his surroundings. He’s in a dark alleyway and there’s a light drizzle over his head. A few feet away, Lucifer is on his hands and knees, splashing vomit onto the wet pavement below. After a few seconds he wipes his mouth on his sleeve and shakily stands.

“W-What do you want?” Jack questions, taking a few feet backwards.

Lucifer holds a hand forward, a soft look on his face,”J-Jack, it’s me. It’s Sam,” He coughs into his free hand, wincing as he assures him,”It was rough taking control so that I could talk to you, but I managed. I-I don’t have long.”

“Sam?” The young man questions uncertainly.

“Yeah,” Sam says with a shaky smile. He opens his jacket and pulls out an angel blade, pressing it against his forearm,”Um, I’ve got just a little time, but I’ve got something to give you.”

“Sam...”

Sam winces as he digs the blade into his arm, and a thin silver line begins to float from all of the blood that goes down his arm. “Quick,” Sam exclaims pointing to a soda bottle on the ground,”It’s not sanitary but it’ll work. Get help from Castiel, he’ll know how to put it back quick and safe. You’ll be back to your old self in no time.”

Jack collects the grace in the bottle and quickly screws in the cap. He holds the bottle to his chest for a moment before he looks up at the latter. Sam turns on his heel, about to walk away when he hears him yell something at his back.

“I-is it true?” Jack chokes out, his eyes flooding with tears,”What Lucifer said? That you... That you’re my real father?”

There’s a heavy feeling in Sam’s stomach as he turns around. “H-he told you?”

Jack inclines his head to the side, confused. “You don’t remember? Our Lucifer, not the one that’s possessing you now,” He questions with wide eyes,”...What happened to you Sam?”

“I’m not quite sure, Jack,” Sam utters, gulping audibly,”I remember opening the portal, the cave, the vampires... _Lucifer_. But everything after is just blank. So, h-he, uh, Lucifer, told you?”

Jack’s voice is shaky, disbelieving,”So, it’s true? You’re my father, too? B-But... I don’t understand! _How?_ ”

“It’s a long story,” Sam says with a shake of his head,”And someday, I’ll tell you but right now I have to get out-“

Jack shifts his eyes contact towards the sky as his chin begins to tremble, but continues to speak,”Why didn’t you tell me, Sam? Why didn’t you -“

“Because I was ashamed,” Sam admits softly.

“Ashamed? Ashamed of me -“

“No! God, no, Jack,” Sam exclaims,”I was ashamed of myself! Of what I-I did... What I’ve done. I have so much to be ashamed of, Jack, so much that I can almost suffocate in it! But when I learned that I was having you,” Unconsciously his hand shifted to his abdomen,”I knew that I’d finally found something that I could give my life for. Something, someone, better than myself that I could give life and breath to. You are the only good thing that I’ve brought to the world, Jack. The one damn good thing on this god forsaken planet that I’ll be leaving behind when the dirt hits my chest!”

“S-Sam...” Jack shakes his head, gentle tears going down his cheeks.

“I am ashamed of many things, but you will never, ever be one of them,” Sam grits out, his eyes starting to water,”I thought that if you had Kelly as your mother you’d be better off. I mean, you already had the literal fucking devil as your father! Imagine if you’d known that I was the one... I just didn’t want to screw you up, like I’ve screwed up so many things before.”

“You still should have told me.”

“I know. I know. I should have told a lot of people, Jack - No one except for Lucifer himself knew,” Sam grits out, trying to blink away the tears blurring his vision,”I’m sorry, Jack. I’m so sorry -“

Jack wraps his arms around Sam’s waist, burying his face against his chest as he cries softly. Sam ravels his arms around his son, pulling him close against his chest and settles his chin on his head. Then he gently shushes him, using his thumbs to brush away the young man’s tears as he rocks him in his arms. In one another’s embrace embrace, the cold wind felt like it had halted and the cars became silent in that back ally.

“...I love you,” Jack utters,”Please, please, tell me you’ll be back soon.”

“I love you, too, Jack,” Sam whispers, kissing the top of his son’s head,”I love you so much. More than you will ever know. And trust me, I’m trying. I’m trying to come back and I’ve done something that I’m not proud of...”

“I don’t care. J-just come back. We need you,” Jack sniffles, looking up at his father,”I need you, Sam.”

Sam kisses his forehead one final time, running his fingers through his hair. Then there was a ruffle of wings and he was gone.


	3. Exodus Smexodus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer’s form in Sam’s head is inspired by Brandon Routh ❤️ Because it is my dream for Ray Palmer from “Legends of Tomorrow” to meet Sam Winchester from “Supernatural”, and this is probably the closest I’ll ever get 😂😂😂 Comment if you agree that they should somehow meet! I’m probably going to attempt to write a crossover someday

* * *

**May 18, 2018**

**Awww...** Lucifer coos in his head. **You finally told your son that you’re the one that bumped uglies with his daddy. How disgustingly sweet - _Ughhhh._ I can’t even say it without gagging violently. Is it possible to throw up in someone else’s head -**

“That may have been my last opportunity to tell him in person,” Sam chokes out, aggressively wiping away any excess tears on his face,”I should have told him a long damn time ago.”

Lucifer hums in thought. **I am curious, how exactly did all of this go down? I mean your brother is a bit slow on the uptake but surely he would have noticed you sporting a beer gut?**

Sam shakes his head, and grits out,”It doesn’t matter. Get back to telling the story -“

 **No, no, no, Sam. I think you have your own story to tell me.** Lucifer says softly. **And don’t give me that ‘when two people love each other very, very much’ mumbo jumbo. I want to hear this lazily written soap opera of a story for myself! I wonder, did the devil force himself on you or did you let him in...? Did you part those stairway to heaven legs for him, not even thinking twice -**

Sam tenses and hisses,” _Enough!_ ”

Lucifer laughs coldly. **You did, didn’t you? You actually let the devil _fuck_ you without even so much as scratching your head! **His laughter ceases and he tells him. **I’ll finish my story, once you tell yours, Sammy.**

The hunter pinched his lips together, and he hangs his head. “Please, don’t make me do this,” He whispers through gritted teeth,”Anything but this...”

 **Come on, Sammy.** The devil pushes. **Just spill the lousy beans, and tell your bunk mate just what is spoiling away in that can of yours?**

“Lucifer, my Lucifer, he took possession of our world’s president, Jefferson Rooney,” Sam starts, trying to keep his face neutral, even as his lips trembled,”He just showed up in the motel room we were staying at. Dean and Cas, were loading up on supplies, and Lucifer h-he - I was tired of losing against him, so damn tired... So, I let him in my bed, and I let him fuck me like it was his last night in our world because I thought it was. I thought that I’d finally have one thing over him.”

**I’m sensing a big, hulking ‘but’ coming up...**

The hunter chokes out,”He’d been sleeping with the president’s aide, Kelly Kline, and she said she believed that he would make a great father, which apparently inspired the bastard,” He struggles with his next few words but manages to go on,”Cas felt the nephilim that Lucifer and I conceived, even from miles away. But, Dean and Cas, they’ve never known about the... other aspect of Lucifer and I’s relationship. So, they both naturally assumed it was Kelly’s, and I let them believe it because I couldn’t stand the thought of telling them that I-I’d done it, again. That I’d given into the devil a second time, and given him just what he wanted...”

He continues, trying to blink past his tears,”We did manage to successfully banish Lucifer, saved the president, but as usual, no one else saw it that way. Dean and I were arrested for the attempted assassination of the president. Unfortunately the dick heads who captured us didn’t believe in up and close torture, no, they liked to keep it slow. They put us in isolation. They knew that extreme isolation would eventually cause us to mentally snap and tell them whatever they wanted to know.”

 **Human minds are so delicate.** Lucifer states knowingly. **Delicate as the threads of a spider’s webs. Just a little brush and... the whole thing falls apart.**

The hunter goes on, attempting to block out the voice in his head. “We were in there f-for around a month and half or so, but I was already visibly pregnant... not that anyone knew. They wouldn’t even let us see another living being, so I only had him.”

_Sam laid his face toward the floor and he pushes with his hands to raise his body until his arms are straight. Then he repeats, again, and again. This goes on for a minute or two, when the extra weight in his belly really begins to take its toll. Panting, he does a final push up, before he rolls over onto his back and settles a hand onto his distended abdomen._

_“Gotta stay in shape, or the best shape I can,” Sam says softly, rubbing soothing circles against the bump._

_Parts of his brain is stuck on feeling shame over focusing on himself and his own safety over focusing on his child’s future. Logically he knows it isn’t selfish to seek a bit of assurance, but he can’t help but be terrified over the fact that he’s gotten wrapped up in something that could ruin him all over again. Or more importantly, his unborn child._

_Sending Lucifer away had been an easy decision. He’d barely gotten a grasp on the fact that he was actually going to be having a child on his own soon, and then he was whisked away to a government-run detention facility. It made it easy to focus on himself and get his attempted escape plans in order. Now, it’s impossible to think of himself, even when he’s all alone in a concrete room._

_Well not entirely alone; his child’s kicking, punching, and rolling around makes certain of that. Not to mention his grey jumpsuit stretching out around his largely distended abdomen. He’s gotten used to thinking of them all the time, hell, thinking of his unborn child is the only reason he’s been able to stay vertical. But it’s still easy to feel guilty._

_“I-I guess nephilim start to move a little earlier, huh?” Sam grunts when he feels another movement in his belly. He places his other hand there and gently rubs the spot, trying to calm his unborn child,”Alright, two kicks for ‘yes’ and one for ‘no’. You’re a boy?”_

_Kick. Kick._

_Sam laughs, not actually believing the coincidence. “Okay,” He states warmly,”A boy, huh? I guess I should stick to boy names.”_

_Kick. Kick._

_The hunter grunts lightly and splays his fingers over his distended abdomen. “Boy names... John?”_

_Kick._

_“No? My father’s name was John, but I guess it’s a little too common, huh? Uh, Robert, maybe? We could call you Bobby -“_

_Kick._

_Sam sits up and leans against the bed frame. “Picky, I see,” He groans loudly as he goes to his feet, and plops back onto the bed,”I’ll try some more names another time - Right now, it’s...” He counts a few seconds in his head, and then the slot on his door opens and a tray is shoved in,”Chow time.”_

_Sam stands up and grabs the tray, then sits back down on his bed and adjusts a few pillows behind his back so he can sit up and eat. In one section of the tray there’s a mushy assortment of fruit. In another there’s a cup of cottage cheese. And then there’s a stale rice cake thrown in the middle, and a carton of milk._

_“I wonder how my brother, your uncle, Dean, is doing on this lousy diet? He can barely handle the banana I practically shove down his throat every few weeks,” Sam scoffs, laughing softly as he cautiously takes a bite of cottage cheese. He swallows and goes to take another mouthful, when a tingling sensation makes its way into his abdomen._

_It felt little an entire colony of ants were parading over his stomach, and he grips his stomach with both of his hands. The sensation wasn’t painful exactly, more of uncomfortable, but nonetheless tears welled in his eyes as the sensation worsened._ _His eyesight blurred, but not because tears were welling up._

_Everything became fuzzy; then he felt nothing at all. He heard the tray crashing into the floor, the cottage cheese sloshing into a nauseating mess on the floor with the disgustingly sweet array of fruit, in the distance. His consciousness was floating through an empty space filled with a thick static. Throughout the inky space his heartbeats pounded loudly, echoing in his ears. Feeling in his body drained away until finally all was black._

_Then he woke up with a gasp. Immediately his hands went to his distended abdomen, only it wasn’t distended at all. It was flat, toned even. He unbuttons his jump suit in a hurry and sees his well earned abs he’d been missing for weeks. He splays his fingers over his belly, and he feels his breathing pick up._  

_“Oh my god,” Sam gasps out, crashing to the floor again, like a puppet with cut strings._

_The hunter felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen. Tension grew in his face and limbs, his mind replaying the last few weeks over and over again. His breathing became more rapid, more shallow._

_“Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?” Sam chokes out, his nails digging into the toned flesh on his belly,”Whereisitwhereisitwhereisit... No, no, no, no, no...”_

_The thoughts are accelerating inside Sam’s head. He wants them to slow so he can breathe but they won't. His breaths continue to come out in gasps and he feels like blacking out again. His heart is hammering inside his chest like it belongs to a rabbit running for its skin. The room spins and he squats on the floor, trying to make everything slow to something his brain and body can cope with._

_His baby. It’s gone. Or maybe, it was never there. Maybe he truly has gone insane in isolation - desperate for company, no matter how small._

_“Where. Is. It?” Sam roars._

“I-I later found out that, Lucifer actually wished for me to live... He had some sick fantasy in his head you see. The two of us raising a child together, without any of our past animosity coming back to haunt us,” Sam explains softly, twiddling with his thumbs,”So, he found a ritual that would extract our child from my womb, and transfer it into Kelly Kline’s. She was to serve as a human incubator, so that I could live to raise our child.”

**How did the ‘human incubator’ feel about this?** Lucifer questions.

Sam stared off at nothing, and still twiddled with his thumbs. “She didn’t know any different. She thought the child was her’s,” He manages to explain,”You see an idiotic demon with a yearning for power, captured the devil instead of allowing him to go back to the cage where he belonged. And before then, Lucifer has already ordered some demons to capture Kelly and put her to sleep for the ritual. When he inevitably escaped, he performed the ritual and stole our child from my womb, transferring it to her’s. He let her think the child was her’s, so that she wouldn’t do anything to harm our baby.”

Lucifer hums in thought, before concluding. **Any other human would be overjoyed that another human had to take their inevitable death sentence... But not you. No, you’ve craved death for a long time, haven’t you?**

“I thought that I finally had something to give my life for,” Sam says, so soft that it’s almost a whisper,”I hate Lucifer for many things, so much that I’ve lost count, but that, that I will always hate him the most for. For making another take my place on the chopping block. S-she was a good, innocent woman... who just fell for the wrong guy. And she d-died because of _me_. Because I couldn’t resist one last attempt at having the last word! At finally having something over that bastard’s head!” Lucifer is gentle, almost _loving_ with his words as he speaks. **He’s gone now, Sam, he won’t ever, ever hurt you again. I made sure of that.** There’s a cold, mirthless laugh. **Try and try as I might, I can never completely part from my own counter part’s actions. I am the devil, Sam. There is no denying that. But, I am not near the devil he is.**

Sam ignores Lucifer’s proclamation, and inquires,”Did you make it last, or was it quick... His death?”

There was a short pause, then a deep inhale. **I’ve seen all that he’s done to you, Sam. The deceit, the manipulation, the lies - _All of it._ He paid, I assured you. He paid dearly for tainting the sacred bond between an archangel and their vessel.**

Sam gasps when a small tendril of grace, a petite, wispy line of silver, comes up from the cut in his arm. It swipes across his cheek, cradling the bone and flesh there. Then it runs across his lips, cold as a tomb, and out of habit he licks his lips to moisten them. The cold moves across his face only to meet the warmth of his blood, his defense against such frigid ice. He feels the wholeness of it wash over his skin, again and again, only to be met by the beat of his heart, again and again.

Sam lays back in the bed, holding his arm over his head and watches multiple tendrils rise from the flesh. “W-What are you doing to me?” He shivers, his teeth chattering with the words.

 **Tell me to stop, and I will...** Lucifer’s voice hisses from within, and the cold spikes with it. A sweet, delectable cold like spearmint that made him shiver with every taste. He licks his lips again, right as another wisp of grace runs there.

Sam opens his eyes and he’s still in a pricey hotel room, but there’s a stranger standing a few feet away. The section of flesh that he’d cut on his arm his sealed, hiding away the grace pumping through his veins. The stranger is an inch or two shorter than the hunter, but he’s still tall, taller than most men he’s been with anyway. His hair is an inky black and poker straight, yet soft, moving like prairie grass in the wind. It gives contrast to his face, so dark against his pale white skin. His brown eyes are so dark that they nearly match his hair in hue, and those same eyes are settled on him. 

“How do you like it?” Lucifer questions, spinning around with his arms open wide as if he was expecting an embrace,”I pulled him from some of your earlier memories. One of your first crushes to have a twig and berries. He was in a toothpaste commercial, and you couldn’t stop thinking about these pearly whites.” He gives him a broad smile for demonstration, and those teeth are most certainly dazzling white.

“You’re in my head,” Sam guesses.

“Always.” Lucifer takes a few steps forward until he’s on the bed, and he’s slowly crawling across the bedding like a predator about to close in on its prey.

Sam backs up until he hits the backboard, and even then he presses his entire self against it. “I take you did this for easier conversation?”

Lucifer laughs, his dimples flashing as he closes in on him. “It does make for easier conversation,” He admits tracing a hand over the latter’s arm, either not caring or not noticing when the skin rises with goosebumps,”But I thought you’d want certain things. It is basic human instinct to want to be touched, to be pleasured... by another.”

“Right now, I just want to go to bed,” Sam scoffs, slapping the hand away. He wonders if anyone else can see the devil that lurks in his bed, or if he simply looks crazy.

Lucifer’s face takes on a pinched expression. “You’re like a housewife with saggy tits that complains about ‘being tired’ every time her poor, desperate husband tries to get his rocks off,” He grumbles, but he doesn’t make any further advances.

“I told you a story, why don’t you get on with yours?” Sam questions sliding into the bed, curling up underneath the sheets and covers. He tries to ignore the weight on the other side of the bed, and the hand that’s still on his arm.

“Aw, you want a bedtime story from little ol’ me?” Lucifer exclaims, gently squeezing the latter’s arm in his grip.

Sam grumbles, and beats his pillow. “Just get on with it,” He says flopping his head back down, nearly springing back up when the latter’s hand settles on his hair.

Lucifer begins to speak, but as he does so, his fingers begin to play with Sam’s strands of hair. And as each word passes he moves closer and closer to him, until their two bodies are pressed up against one another’s. Sam wants to fidget, to push off his cold, clammy hands, but he hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was tired. He was a just a different kind.

_“Okay, well, getting an extra twenty-five through that rift, that may not be possible,” Dean starts off, glancing between his mother and brother to see their reactions._

_Castiel suddenly interrupts, his face twisted into a grim expression as he enters the scene._

_Lucifer clears his throat and attempts a casual greeting,”Cass, hey. Any update on, Jack?”_

_“He’s back,” Castiel informs him._

_Lucifer questions unenthusiastically,”Great. Where is he?”_

_Castiel frowns deeply, and grits out,”He’s with Lucifer.”_

_Lucifer wore a puzzled expression and whipped his head around, to look at his vessel’s brother. And there is definitely something smoldering beneath Dean’s usual stony face. Then he grumbles under his breath, a slur of curses that the devil isn’t familiar with, and then he leads the group outside._

_Lucifer sets his eyes on Other-Lucifer and Jack, both of them sitting on a set of rickety steps and chatting. Other-Lucifer’s eyes go up for a second, look away, then go shooting back to him in surprise. Jack, noticing that his father had abruptly stopped talking, settles his eyes on the approaching group._

_Dean points at Other-Lucifer and barks,”I told you no talking,” And he swipes his fingers in Jack’s direction, continuing,”And I told you no listening!”_

_Jack stands up to argue,”Dean, he’s in chains.” He motions to the warded handcuffs around the archangel’s wrists for emphasis._

_“His mouth isn’t. Shoulda gagged him,” Dean spits out, giving Other-Lucifer a glare._

_“No, I need to know about my powers, my family,” Jack disagrees, shaking his head._

_Castiel steps forward, and gently presses,”Jack, we are your family. We’ve been protecting you. We’ve been honoring your mother’s wishes,” He takes on a slightly brighter countenance as he goes on,”We’re your family.”_

_Lucifer decides he should put in his two-cents worth. His vessel wouldn’t be too keen on him when he woke up, if he figured out he’d allowed his son to be lead right into the wrong devil’s arms. Looking through his vessel’s memories, this devil just may have out deviled him in more ways than one, so it wouldn’t be hard to build a case against him._

_Lucifer tries for a sympathetic expression, but firmly states,”Jack, you have no idea who Lucifer really is.”_

_“And I never will unless I talk to him,” Jack shoots back._

_Other-Lucifer takes on a pleased expression, and wiggles a little bit in his cuffs. It was almost as if he was giddy with the fact that his son had defended him. Lucifer rolls his eyes, and crosses his arms over his chest. His vessel’s son was far too naive, and was easily falling for his counter part’s tricks._

_“Jack...” Dean hisses._

_“Dean!” Jack exclaims, his teeth grit. And though, the young man was about as intimidating as a constipated chihuahua, everyone else looks surprise at his outburst,”He’s my father.”_

 

_SPNPN_

 

_“We should reach the base camp in a few hours,” Mary says, shoving her hands into her coat pockets. The crowd behind them, following like a pack of starving mutts, all chatter indistinctly._

_Dean turns to Lucifer and tells him to,”Sam, go back there and check out what Helter Skelter’s sayin’ to the damn kid.”_

_Lucifer purses his lips and mutters something under his breath. What the hell was a Helter Skelter? He quickly skims through his vessels memories for an explanation, and only finds things that it could maybe mean. His idiotic brother could be referring to the Beatles song. Or the theory_ _to explain the series of murders committed by the Manson Family._

_Lucifer gave up and simply says a quick,”Yep.” Then he slows down his walking pace and fell back in line with his counter part and his vessel’s son._

_Thunder rumbles in the distance. Lucifer glance towards the distance, a sense of unease tingling across his vessel’s skin, making his hairs stand on end. He feels he should warn the human’s that more angels are approaching, but a sudden ability to sense his kind would be a wee bit suspicious. He’s snapped out of his thoughts by his vessel’s son._

_Jack says,”I was just telling my dad now that he’s here, we have enough power to kill Michael.”_

_Lucifer’s posture goes rigid as he explains,”Jack, that’s not really the plan.”_

_“But... This is our chance,” Jack snaps, his annoyance made obvious by his facial expression._

_‘Teenagers,’ Lucifer thinks to himself with an eye roll. Had either of the kid’s parents heard of a little thing called discipline? His old man had used plenty of it and look how he turned out - Perhaps he wasn’t the best example, but to be fair, he had a mark on his arm influencing a good number of his actions for a while._

_‘Jack, your father is a lowly parasite that fed on other angels’ grace just to get enough juice to bring me back, so he could get into your good graces. And when I refused his sweet, little offer to be used, again, he threw a hissy fit and had me killed... again!’ Is what he wanted to say, but he figured it’d be a little out of character for the usual passive, nurturing human he was possessing._

_There’s a thundering crash in the tree line at his side and suddenly another angel comes clambering through. The archangel, Gabriel, to be precise. In his adorable little vessel, he races towards his direction, screaming like a madman,”Angels!!!”_

_Immediately all of the hunters at his back are easing their angel-bullet loaded guns or pointing an angel blade. He grumbles and settles on raising his vessel’s gun, looking like a small child with his two pistol, for he had no idea how to use the damn thing. At least if he was holding it upside down, no one seemed to notice._

_The head of the small group of angels holds up a fist and barks out,”On my command!” And then with a whoosh, they’re all piles of ash on the dirt road._

_Everyone turns in surprise to Other-Lucifer who has one hand raised with two fingers pressed in a snapping position. The warded cuffs around his wrists sizzle and then melt from his arms, becoming a puddle of molted metal at his feet._

_“Oh, yeah, about the cuffs — I knew they wouldn’t hold me in this world. Long story short, I didn’t want your impotence to get awkward, so I just went along,” His counter part explains, fiddling with the ring on his finger,”You’re welcome. Welcome. Right? Don’t... thank me at once,” He nudges his arm in his son’s direction,”See? Team player -“_

_There’s a gunshot and the archangel falls to his knees, his eyes scrunched in pain as a slur of curses exits his lips. His son goes to his knees beside him, looking up to see where the shot came from only to cock his head in confusion His vessel’s brother and mother turn to him in shock, their lips parted every so slightly as if they were about to say something._

_Lucifer frowns slightly and lowers his gun, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He walks over to this counter part and digs his thumb into where the angel bullet had penetrated the archangel’s vessel’s shoulder blade. Other-Lucifer groans loudly standing with him as Lucifer lifts his hand, still digging his thumb into the flesh._

_“You think you’re the shit, don’t you? You really do,” Lucifer scoffs with a sneer,”With your stolen angel grace and shitty little snarky comments, all in an attempt to hide your pathetic nature? You can’t hide it, Lucifer, no matter how hard you try. You’re weak, pathetic, and if you try to think otherwise remember this - Before, an angel bullet would maybe make you flinch, but never has it brought you to your knees... not until now. Remember this.”_

_Jack is shaking his head and he’s yelling at Sam,”Stop! Stop it, Sam! He was just trying to help -“_

_“Sam -“ Dean says, placing a hand on his shoulder and roughly pulling him away,”That’s enough! Hey, come on... walk it off! Now!” And he shoves him in front of him._

_“Why’d you stop me?” Lucifer snarls, taking a few steps forward._

_“You know all I’m all for humiliating and beating that son of a bitch, but we’ve got enough shit on our plate without a pissy archangel. Plus, that kid is conflicted enough without seeing the usually level headed co-parent going ape shit,” Dean says with a light laugh, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulders, and leading him further ahead of the group,”Take a breath, man. Hell, I know what that bastards done to you, and I understand... Just, not now, okay?”_

_Lucifer lets out a light scoff but concedes for the sake of staying character. He couldn’t reveal his true self unless absolutely necessary._ _“Fine, damn it. Fine,”_ _He concedes, leaning into his brother’s hand,”Just remember what you said earlier. When the time comes, you’re letting me handle him, right?”_

_“You know it,” Dean reassures with a light squeeze, his green hues boring deep into the latter’s,”Come on, we’ll be at the base soon.”_

_It wasn’t soon. It was another few hours and then they were finally there. Lucifer didn’t think he’d ever take flying for granted again, after all the walking nonsense he’d had to do. His eyes settled on the sign a few feet down the road they were walking. ‘Singer’s Auto Salvage’. Something within his vessel jolts at seeing the words and the archangel feels it._

_“Creeps me out. You know?” Lucifer questions, turning to Dean who’s having a similar response._

_“Yeah, but it’s no Sioux Falls,” Dean states with a deep frown._

_“Why should it look like Sioux Falls?” An old man questions with a puzzled look, walking towards them._

_The old man had a fringe of grey-brown hair around his army beret. He had a wizened face and a back slightly hunched. He’s surprised that each of his movements aren’t sounded by a creak of old bones. He recognizes him as Alt-Bobby Singer._

_Lucifer scrambles to explain, combing through his vessel’s memories. “Uh, just our, uh, Bobby back in our world, he, um...”_

_Bobby finished with a snark,”He liked to freeze his ass off every winter?” He snorts and continues,”Yeah, well, this Bobby’s gonna pass on that. Anyhow, it’s good to see you boys again. I knew you couldn’t stay away.”_

_“Yeah,” Dean humors him._

_Lucifer sniffs cautiously at the mug that had been handed to him, and gently blew on the scathing hot liquid. Then he takes a large gulp, all the while tuning out most of the two’s conversation. He smacks his lips, and makes a pleasantly surprised noise, taking another sip._

_“-let Charlie go with Ketch?” Dean questions in exasperation._

_“She let Ketch come with her,” Bobby corrects,”It’s her operation.”_

_Lucifer takes a final sip of the liquid and explains to Bobby,”Bobby, we’re gonna have to hit the road soon. We’re running out of time.”_

_“Now about that,” Bobby starts with doubtful expression, his eyebrows furrowed,”Mary said you wanna take a bunch of our people back to this ‘Other Earth’?”_

_“Yeah. Yeah that’s the idea.” Dean confirms with a slight nod, his hands fiddling with the straps of his back pack. Then he takes his own mug and takes a tentative sip._

_Bobby sighs and responds,”Well, no offense, but that may be the dumbest friggin’ idea in a landfill of dumb ideas.”_

“Yada, yada, yada, yada,” Lucifer murmurs through a yawn,”Long story short, the other-hunters are now camped out in your bunker, much to your brother’s chagrin.”

Sam frowns in thought and utters,”You saved these hunters from your brother... why?”

“For you,” Lucifer says simply, gripping onto a small section of Sam’s hair and just running it through his fingers,”Everything that I’ve done since I possessed you unwillingly, has been for you, Sammy. And besides, I was only going off what’d you do... I didn’t want to rouse suspicion that you were... off, so I attempted to act like you. There were a few slip ups, such as that incident with my counter part, so your family was suspicious. But, not of this.”

“And Lucifer? You didn’t bring him back to the bunker, did you?”

Lucifer speaks in a smoothing, placating voice,”No, Sam. I wouldn’t allow my counter part anywhere near your friends and family, if I could help it, so when the time came and we got back to the portal...”

_“Go!” Gabriel screams, allowing his blade to slip from his sleeve._

_Lucifer and Dean cautiously edge towards the warbling portal, still keeping an eye on the fight. Lucifer knows that Gabriel, the foolish imp of an archangel, was going to lose miserably. He wants to intervene, to jump in and save him, for this was the counter part of his beloved baby brother. The one he along with his older brother drove away with their constant squabbling._

_“Gabriel!” Lucifer yells, his lips trembling,”Run! Damn it! Run!”_

_Lucifer knew he couldn’t intervene, he couldn’t risk his current vessel in what would no doubt be a losing fight with his older brother. And, in truth, he was tired of him. He was tired of fighting and losing. All he had to do was go through the portal at his back, and he was free of daddy’s good little soldier._

_Gabriel is stabbed through the stomach and his eyes blaze like a roaring fire as he screams in agony. Lucifer tries to stop it, the cry building up in his chest, but he cant’t._

_“Gabe! No!” Dean shouts._

_“No!” Lucifer cries, almost turning forward to take him in his arms. To cradle him as he did with his own brother when they were mere fledglings,”Go. Go!”_  

_Lucifer shoves Dean through the portal, watching as it falters in power. Other-Lucifer comes limping towards him, blood pouring from his mouth as he attempts to go through the quickly failing portal. Lucifer snarls, grabbing his counter part by the throat, and easily shoving him several feet back._

_Other-Lucifer grunts in surprise and croaks,”Sam, What are you doing, man? I’m hurt. Please.”_

_Lucifer’s lip curls as he hisses,”How did you think this was gonna end?” And without another word, he turns on his heel and walks through the portal._

“...I knocked him on his ass, and made sure he didn’t make it through,” Lucifer finishes, dropping the section of hair he was playing with. Then he proceeds to pick another one.

Sam sighs, his eyes staring at the ceiling above. “So, he’s dead? Gabriel, I mean.”

Lucifer stiffens, before slowly nodding. “Yeah,” He utters,”I’m sorry. I know that he was friend of yours.”

“Gabriel, your Gabriel, what happened to him?” Sam questions.

“I, well, we, forced him away,” Lucifer admits, curling the strands between his fingers,”When the time for the apocalypse came, we both asked him to take our side, but he refused. He didn’t want to choose, so he simply... left. Knowing him, he’s probably made a pocket dimension full of sugary sweets and -“

“Porn stars,” They say in unison.


	4. Cold Enough For you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this is a repost of the fourth chapter with some adjustments. I just couldn’t allow that last abomination of a chapter to live 😂 So I edited it to my liking.

**May 18, 2018**

 

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah,” Dean blows air through his lips, adjusts the phone in his grip and rolls his eyes,”No, I don't care. I -- Just keep looking. Yeah. Whatever.”

Castiel glances up, curiosity flashing in his eyes,”Who was that?” “Ketch,” Dean answers, shoving his phone into his pocket,” He's in London searching for the egg.” 

Castiel sits down with a frown. “The... egg,” He wonders aloud.

 “It's the -- It's the magic egg that kicked Lucifer out of the President.”

“Oh, the Newton-Dee Hyperbolic Pulse Generator,” Castiel states with a knowing nod.

“Right,” Dean dismisses, waving his hand,”Anyway, I thought we could use it on Lucifer 2.0, but -- Ketch can't find it. So, that's another dead end, which is just fucking great,” He sighs aloud and asks,”How’s the kid?”

“Shaken, to say the least,” Castiel answers simply,”He witnessed one of his parental figures under the grips of an alternate version of his dead father. It’s got to be difficult for him to deal with.” 

“...H-he didn’t do anything to him did he?” 

“No,” The angel says,”He just gave him some of his grace and told him to go. I’m going to help administer it soon, and after, he should have his powers back.” 

Dean states,”Good. That’s good. Did...” He can’t quite voice the words.

“Dean,” Castiel starts,”Jack says that Sam was able to gain control long enough for the two to talk.” 

“What’d he say,” The human demands, his voice frantic. 

The angel answers him calmly,”He said that he was trying to come back, and that’d he’d done something he wasn’t proud of in order to do so,” He states at his friend and asks“...Dean, are you all right?”

Dean shrugs, and answers,”Yeah, I've been better. I've been worse. You, man?”

Castiel sighs, and replies,”I'm—I'm just sorry. I should never have gone to those demons. If... he hadn’t shown up...” He laughs wryly,”Never did I think I’d have any version of the devil to thank.”

“I don’t blame you, Cas. Hell, I wish I’d thought of it first,” Dean takes the seat next to his friend,”If it meant getting Sammy back, I’d work with—I'd do anything.”

“I know you would,” The angel acknowledges.

The hunter laughs coldly, running a hand over his face. “I think the real bitch of it all, through, is that I-I didn’t even notice,” He shakes his head, runs his fingers through his shortly cropped hair. Abruptly his hand jerks off to the side, knocking a pile of books and several papers to the floor,”I didn’t even fucking notice that my brother was having his strings pulled by the devil! The literal fucking devil! I-I knew that something was off... a-after he came back. I mean, h-he was so... cold. But I never would have thought -“

“Dean,” Castiel presses gently,”It’s not your fault; it’s no one’s. I didn’t see it either - I couldn’t see this great evil possessing one of my closest friend’s. This isn’t the kind of possession that we’re used to. Had it been, we would’ve seen the signs.” 

Dean glances up at that, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?” 

“In truth, there are multiple kinds of possession in this world,” Castiel states,”Demonic possession - which doesn’t need consent - and angelic possession - which does. But, there is a form of angelic possession, which does not require consent -“ 

“Wait, wait, wait... Hold on,” Dean blinks rapidly, pointing a finger upwards,”If this kind of possession does exist, then why in the hell was there so much foreplay leading up to the end of the world?”

The angel sighs softly, and explains,”Its not as simplistic as a demonic possession. In order for an angel to possess a human without consent, there has to be a... bond of some type. Something that goes beyond being a true-born vessel,” He goes on,”Michael and Lucifer did not share this kind of bond with either of you, so they were forced to gain your consent in order to take you as vessels. And even then, it wasn’t preferable because they’d have to share authority.”

“I’m still a little confused, Cas,” The human utters, his expression perplexed,”Just what are you implying?”

“...I’m not implying anything, Dean. You’d be foolish or delusional not to see the sort of relationship your brother held with -“

“Finish that sentence, I dare you,” Dean snarls, his lip curled,”Sammy, h-he never... he wouldn’t...”

Castiel slowly starts,”Dean,” He continues,”I’m sorry that you cannot hear this from your brother yourself, but the two did share something in the cage, maybe even afterwards -“

Dean’s fist went flying against Castiel’s jaw, but the angel’s head didn’t even turn in the slightest. Dean roared in pain, clutching at his fist like a toddler that had just gotten his hand smacked by his mother. Castiel’s face was full of pity as he stood up from his chair, and went to stand beside his friend.

“If you’d like, you can hit me, again. This time I’d pretend the blow affected me,” The angel offers. 

The human huffs in annoyance, still clutching at his fist as he slouches back into his chair. He didn’t answer the angel, he just stares off into the distance, his jaw going tense as he runs the latter’s words in his head, over and over. It’s all too much. The look that the angel gives me - pity, pity that he hadn’t known. Those pale blue eyes, probing into his soul, desperately wanting to see what's going on in there. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Dean says that last, standing up so hard he thrusts his chair a few feet back,”Just... don’t.”

Castiel nods in acknowledgment, casts his gaze towards the floor. “I am sorry,” He says, his gravely voice filled with pity,”More so for your brother than you. I know that he never wanted anyone to know, but... it was necessary.”

The human simply points out,”Even if the two had... something, than that still doesn’t explain how Lucifer 2.0 was able to possess Sammy without his consent. The two had never even met, how could he have felt a damn thing for my brother?” 

“The answer to that is complicated,” Castiel answers, an uneasiness in his voice,”Tell me, Dean, if you knew that another version of your deceased father lived in the same dimension, would you love him the very same as you did your own father?” 

Dean frowns his thought, before stating,”Yeah, I would. It wouldn’t make a lick of sense because he wouldn’t be the man that raised me, but... just knowing that some version of him was still alive would be more than enough.” 

“Exactly, though there would be no justification behind it, since he is not your father, you would still love him nonetheless,” The angel explains,”This version of Lucifer likely still felt for our world’s Sam because of their bond as angel and vessel. And whether Sam knows it or not, he does still feel for Lucifer and those same feelings allowed for another version of the archangel to possess his body without consent.” 

“However,” Castiel goes on,”This form of possession, isn’t even really technically possession. It’s more of a mutually beneficial relationship.” 

The human nods, and asks,”But, I don’t understand one thing: How does exactly does Sammy benefit from this?” 

The angel frowns deeply. “Whether Sam wanted it or not, the other world’s version of Lucifer saved his life,” He says,”That is how he benefits.” 

That night when Dean he forced himself into bed, he dreamed. Dean dreamt of his amulet, old and covered in dirt, the engravings worn and the humanoid head with bull-like horns, so tarnished as to be stolen from view. He held it in his left hand, watching the mud dirty his skin. He brought it close enough to brush his face and the amulet had the aroma of stale blood. Then he felt a hand, it was stiff and cold around his palm as it takes the heavy brass. 

Sam was sitting beside him, his grey-skinned hand cusped around the amulet. His brother’s hazel hues are fogged over and dull, and his lips are cracked and chapped and almost white. He is wearing the same clothes he had on before he died in the caves, but they looked older as if they were already starting to wear away. Sam’s hand, so cold and pale, is touching the nape of his neck, like he always did when he was about to pull Dean into one of their rare, but coveted embraces.

Sam pulls his older brother close, his lips close enough to graze the outer shell of his ear. “I-I a-a-am n-not th-the bro-bro-brother… y-you w-wanted,” His voice sounds like a silent scream,”I-I could n-never be… Sammy.”

Their father had always said regrets were 'moral residue.' Like something hard to remove got stuck on you when you did something against your better judgement. Dean could never understand it even when he did something wrong himself, but now the residue seems impossible to remove, like an indelible stain on his cerebral cortex. Because he’d tried to fix his brother, instead of accepting that he was broken, and could never be put back together.

“Sam, I….” What was he supposed to say? That it wasn’t true; that would be a lie. 

“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare try and deny it… You didn’t want me,” Sam’s cracked lips are trembling, and his yellowing nails are racking up and down his arms,”You just wanted the image of me you’d conjured up, this puppy-eyed idiot who rode shot-gun and indulged you. If you actually gave a shit about me, you would have…." His dull eyes are blinking rapidly, but his tear ducts are long dried out and decayed; no tears left to cry,”And you love this image of me you’ve conjured up, in the sickest way possible...” 

Dean is blinking now, too, he can’t cry, not now. “Sam,” His voice is hoarse,”I tried, shit, I tried… I tried to accept you for all that you are, the good and the bad, but…” He couldn’t get past all that bad: Sam’s eyes blown wide as Lucifer stares at him as if nothing else existed in the space around them. 

Ever since Dean came back from Hell, all those months ago, if he's honest — he feels like he’s been mourning the brother that he knew, rather than trying to help the one that was still alive. Because the little boy that sang shitty songs with him on the open road with a dimply smile was long gone. The boy who would hold him in his arms, so tight and close, like he was the only thing that mattered in his world, gone. The one that would try to make the most out of every little thing. Gone.

And to his horror, something bubbles up from his baby brother’s lips, his shoulders shaking — a low, garbled sound. Laughter – Something that resembles laughter at least. 

“All you've ever wanted is to have is this Sammy back, without any of the shit,” Sam whispers, the fingers that are racking his arms are starting to draw blood. The blood is thick and clotted, so it doesn’t flow, it seeps,”You, the man who loves his own brother in anything but a brotherly way, loathes me for my shit. But, that shit broke me, Dean. It broke me,” Dean closes his eyes,”But I had to go through it alone because all you did was deny, deny, deny... And now I’m going through it all over again.” 

A single tear cascaded down the hunter’s cheek, and it took all of his will power for that one tear not to turn into sobs. “I’m sorry,” He repeats it like a mantra,”I’m so sorry, Sammy. I never... I never wanted...”

This corpse, this rotting thing that was his brother paid no heed to his apologies. Instead it continued,”You ignored me when I would wake up crying at night because you didn’t want to deal with the shit,” His fingers move from his arms to his scalp, and his nails scrape the skin there,”I had to suffer through everything alone, while you pretended to be asleep. Every time you ignored my cries I wanted to scream — ‘Help me, say something, anything, Dean, please…’ Do you remember that?”

The answer was yes. Some nights Dean would lay in his bed, hear the screams loud and clear through the walls, and would contemplate going into his brother’s room. One night he’d stood at the edge of Sam’s for almost an entire hour, hand extended as if to offer him even the slightest of comforting touches. But, he couldn’t make himself do it because he didn’t want to acknowledge that his brother was broken.

“There’s nothing that I won’t go through, if it means saving you, Sammy,” Dean declares,”I don’t want you gone.”

“I do.”

Dean wondered that if he had looked closer, if he could have seen the perfected mask of pretense crumbling down and raw emotions taking over. Maybe, if he had listened carefully, he could have heard the cries buried down deep beneath the fake laughs. It was fascinating how tragedy held the power to bring the unsurfaced into the light. How it unmasks the hidden so brightly.

“I want to die with every ounce of my being. I have for a long time,” Sam continued softly, and suddenly his eyes flashed a dangerous, bloody red.

Lucifer, not Sam now, smiled slowly, easily with his brother’s lips. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to. He’d already won. He’d preyed on his little brother and taken him like a thief in the night. His red eyes said it all,’I win.’

He suddenly got the sensation that he was being pulled away against his will. The image of his dead brother shifted dizzyingly around him and he felt completely disoriented. In a flash, the darkness dissipated and his eyes flew open. Though his eyes are open he can't think of why; his heart is pounding, mind empty. It's as if a hypodermic of adrenaline has been emptied into his carotid.

Dean sat up slowly, to find himself in his bed. His sheets are a tangled mess around his legs, and his breathing is ragged and uneven. He grasped mentally to gain his bearings. He strains into the utter darkness, breathing rate beginning to steady. His hand runs down his unshaven face, and he feels a wetness around his eyes.

“God,” Dean grits out,”Damn it…”

 

**May 19, 2018**

 

Sam is laying down in a field one arm strewn over his stomach with soft, lush grass cushioning his body. He inhales and exhales softly, his eyes gently closed in the lightest sleep. The gentle breeze sways his long locks back and forth like reeds beside a pond. His hazel hues slowly blink open and his lips part slightly in surprise.

His gaze is settled on the clear blue sky straight above, the sun’s warm rays bathing his body. He settles his arms behind himself and pushes himself upright into a sitting position, and gently combs his hair out of his face with his fingers.

“W-where am I,” Sam crials aloud.

“You don’t recognize this place do you,” A voice asks aloud from behind him. He turns and comes face to face with the devil’s visible form,”I suppose it looks different without all of the snow.”

Sam blinks slowly, as realization dawns on him and he asks in a strained voice,”...Why did you bring me here?”

“Your most cherished dreams, they all take place in one place - Here,” Lucifer answers taking a blade of grass in between his fingers,”I wanted to see this place for myself, in some attempt to better understand you. If anything, I’m even more confused.”

“You’ll never know me,” Sam huffs like a sullen child, settling his chin on his folded knees.

Lucifer chuckles softly, tossing the blade of grass aside. “If anyone could know you better than you know yourself, it would be me,” He insists scooting closer to him,”You, being you, may claim it to be your brother, but you and I know just how far from the truth that is. He used to know you, once upon a time.. but now, he just pretends to. He sees you as this image he’s conjured in his wracked-out head and refuses to see you as anything else... His sweet, precious Sammy, a child that messes up everything he tries.” 

The human doesn’t bother arguing, he’s honestly fed up with it. “Make it snow,” He says softly, flopping back down onto the grass,”You can’t understand what it means to be here without the snow.”

The archangel actually looks genuinely surprised at that. He doesn’t say another word, he simply snaps his fingers and sits back to watch the show. The skies abruptly darken with great, big puffs of clouds that begin to scatter the sky with snow. In complete and utter silence, they both watch them tumble, those feathered crystals, their chaotic flight to form a blanket that could not be more uniform, more orderly.

The wind howled, piling up the snow in drifts, blinding the day with ice-white dust. Sam still laid on the freezing ground as the snow begin to pile around him, as it drifted into his long strands of hair. Breath pale against the numbing air, he blinked thoughtfully as the snow continued to fall on his face, eventually closing his eyes as it sat heavy on his eyelashes. He adored the snow, more so when it was falling.

Sam knew that Lucifer was laying beside him, could feel his fingers etching to interlace with his but he refused to indulge the latter. Though the two shared one body, one mind, the two couldn’t be further apart righ then and there, as the snow continued to fall. Hours passed, and soon the sky grows dark and the snow is still falling, clumps of wet flakes drifting windlessly down.

“Do you see now,” Sam says at last, shivering against the cold that infects his body like a disease.

Lucifer doesn’t say anything. Even though the physical form he is wearing is nothing but a figment from his mind, the human still swears when he blinks and he’s pressed up against him.

“I’ve always liked the snow, even when I was just an infant. I used to just lay in it, let it pile up over me until I was damn near buried like a dead man,” Sam says, almost talking to himself. 

“Why,” Lucifer dares to question.

Sam frowns,”I don’t know. It’s just one of those things, I guess,” He wiggles slightly in the snow, avoiding the latter’s nearby limbs.  

“I can finish it, if you’d like... the story.”

“Okay,” Sam concedes with a nod.

“ _Kid did great,” Dean compliments._

_Lucifer snorts,”Yeah, no kidding.”_

_“I mean, he keeps this up, and...” Dean shakes his head and his mouth twitches slightly._

_Lucifer inquires,”And what?”_

_“I don’t know,” Dean scratches his nose and abruptly asks,”Hey, you remember...remember when you asked if we could stop it? All the evil in the world?”_

_Lucifer tilts his head to the side, and uneasily utters,”...Yeah.”_

_“If we could...really change things? Well, maybe with Jack, we can.”_

_Lucifer exhales in relief, and nods in agreement. “Maybe you’re right,” He chuckles, and points out,”But then what will we do?”_

_“Mm. Yeah,” Dean inhales deeply and simply states,”This,” He lifts his beer bottle up,”A whole lot of this. But on a beach somewhere, you know? Can you imagine? You, me, Cass, toes in the sand, couple of them little umbrella drinks. Matching Hawaiian shirts, obviously.”_  

_Lucifer chuckles again. Dean doesn’t know what Sam wants at all. Sam’s ideal picture of retirement is miles upon miles away from the beach, in a cabin in the woods. Snow is falling, already nearly a foot deep over the dead grass, and there’s nearly thousands of pine trees circling the property. The human is sitting in a rocking chair with a cotton throw strewn over his lap, rocking back and forth in front of a roaring fire. There’s an old yellowing book in his grip, and he’s wearing reading glasses. He’s old and content._  

_“Some hula girls.”_

_“You talking about retiring? You?”_

_Dean replies,”If I knew the world was safe? Hell, yeah. And you know why? ‘Cause we frickin earned it, man.”_

_Lucifer offers his beer, and states,”I’ll drink to that.”_

_“Yeah,” Dean inhales deeply, and whispers,”Hell, yeah.”_

_“_ Is this relevant to the story as whole?”

Lucifer smiles slightly at that and responds,”I suppose not, but I didn't take you for the type guy to skip for he end of the book just to see what happens.”

Sam simply states,”I’m usually not.”

“Eager already? Well, skipping around has consequences, Sammy. You may not understand some of what goes down in the end,” The archangel replies.

“Fill me in then.”

“Very well. Long story short, your world’s Lucifer and my world’s Michael decide to team up. They got back to this world, using the same spell you used to get to mine,” Lucifer explains briefly,”Lucifer killed one of the strays hanging out in your bunker, but brought her back because Jack asked oh-so sweetly. Of course, he failed to mention he was the one who killed her. Then he tried to make it so that your son would go away with him. But, then Michael made his way into your precious bunker...”

_The electricity crackled and loud explosions began to sound from outside._

_“What’s happening?” Maggie whimpers pathetically._

_Lucifer has a sudden urge to give her a nice, calming slap to the face, but decides otherwise. Instead, he chooses to ignore her, and stands up, facing into the other room where everyone else was gathered. As he goes down the short stairs, there’s another loud boom from behind the door and he flinches._

_“What the hell?” Lucifer snaps. The door thuds and rattles as he goes on,”Oh, no.”_

_Bobby growls,”What the hell is that?”_

_“Mom, Bobby, take Maggie, get her out of here,” Lucifer chokes out, trying to push down the anticipation that’s starting to build up in his chest,”Go through the garage.”_

_Dean barks out,”We’ll buy you some time.”_

_“No!” Mary yells, while Bobby grabs her arm and begins dragging her away._

_“Mom!” Dean screams._

_“Please,” Lucifer pleads, attempting to keep the annoyance out of his voice. Damn stubborn human._

_“Go!” Dean insists a final time as the group of hunter’s finally leaves._

_The door begins to glow a stark white as the violent shaking worsens. The three left in the room, Dean, Castiel, and Lucifer, all meet one another’s eyes, knowing that this would likely be the fight of their lives. Lucifer knows that even if he gave himself away and used his powers, he would not be able to win against his brother. He would lose just as Gabriel did._

_Lucifer closed his eyes at the painful memory. He takes solace in the fact that he just may be joining his baby brother soon. The door finally caves in with a final heave, and Michael walks in with the swaggering steps of a man who knows there’s not going to be much of a fight._  

_As Michael levitates in the air and lowers himself down to where the three of them are gathered, the bullets they fire ricochet off him. Castiel runs forward with his angel blade, a mouse facing the cat, and is back handed and thrown over the table. The seraph was already down for the count on the floor, unconscious._

_“You really thought you could run from me,” Michael sneers, clearly unimpressed by their futile attempts to slow him down._

_Lucifer can’t believe this, he hitched a ride to this world to escape his dick-head brother, but here is, about to die facing him again. This time around, he doesn’t have any lives to spare. He wonders if his vessel is awake, if he, too, realizes that he was given a second chance at life, only to have his ass kicked around the globe._

_Lucifer raises his gun to fire at his brother but is given a swift punch to the face, and is sent flying back. Dean rummages through the duffel on the table and produces an angel blade, jabbing it in Michael’s general direction with no true aim. Michael easily dodged and grabs him by his arm, twisting it to the side, as he sends him to his knees with blow after blow._

_“Yeah, how did you...,” Dean groans in a strained voice, as Michael tugs him upwards by his throat._

_“Get here?” Michael finishes,”Easy. I made a deal. And now, this world is mine. I can save it, purge it of sin.”_

_And that, that there makes Lucifer pissed. Their world was already ravished by their combined anger, and in his state of nothingness, he had seen that their father wasn’t watching. The world was already on its knees, but there was no surprise appearance from their father. He’d given up on life and had decided to succumb to his nothingness in that dank cave, when he’d stumbled upon his true vessel. Now, Michael was going to destroy his second chance at life._  

_“Oh, yeah, ‘cause that really worked on your rock,” Dean manages to grit out, as his hands claw at the ones around his throat._

_“I’m not perfect,” Michael says as Lucifer snorts,”Yes, I made mistakes. But second time’s the charm. And you...”_  

_“Aah!” Dean cries out as he’s lifted into the air._

_Michael goes on with a growl,”Dean Winchester, will be the first life that I take in this world, the first soul I save. Some would consider that an honor.”_

_Dean bites back with a cutting remark,”Well, as Shakespeare once said, eat me, dickbag.” Michael smiled at that and crunched something in Dean’s neck._

_Lucifer backed away on his hands and knees until he wa sin the far corner of the room. He couldn’t defeat his brother alone, even with his true vessel in tow. “Jack, I don’t know where you are, and I don’t even know if you can hear this prayer, but we need you,” He prays softly, his breathing heavy,”We need you.”_

_“Could’ve done this quick, but I wanted to enjoy it,” Michael hisses, his voice deathly calm,”That moment when the soul leaves the body... it’s beautiful.”_

_There’s a heaviness in the air as a new source of power arrives, and then Michael is thrown into the wall with a scream of pain. Jack is standing there, his eyes glowing a deep gold as he extends his hand forward, pressing Michael into the wall with his power._

_“Jack,” Lucifer gasps out, relieved._

_“I heard your prayer,” Jack utters._

_Another set of wings flutter and his counter part is standing there, cocky and arrogant as usual. “Yeah it’s me,” Other-Lucifer chuckles,”Yay! Uh, we done, buddy?”_

_Michael breathes heavily and sits up from his slouched position against the wall. Jack’s expression darkens._  

_“Buddy?” Other-Lucifer questions._

_Jack brings one hand up and slowly presses his fingers together, growling,”You hurt my friends,” Michael falls to his knees again, groaning in pain. Jack makes his hand into a full fist as he roars,”You hurt my family!”_  

_“Whoa,” Other-Lucifer utters, in awe at his son’s power._

_Michael chokes out,”Lucifer, we - we had a deal!”_

_“Okay,” Other-Lucifer states,”Game over. Hey, buddy, let’s , uh, let’s, uh...” He snaps his fingers to get his son’s attention,”...split, okay?”_  

_“What does he mean?” Jack asks._

_“I-I-I don’t know. I didn’t - I didn’t hear.”_

_Dean stands up on shaky bow legs, and growls,”They had a deal. Lucifer gets you and Michael gets everyone else. He’s gonna nuke our world, Jack, just like he did his._

_“Is that true?” Jack questions, his voice starting to grow angry._  

_“No,” Other-Lucifer denies,”It’s not.”_

_“Is that why you wanted us to leave?” Jack demands._

_Lucifer’s eyebrows furrow as he wonders aloud,”Leave?”_

_“He said - He said we’d go see the stars,” Jack admits, hurt lacing his voice._

_“What, and you’re just gonna leave the rest of us to burn?” Castiel demands, his eyes narrowed dangerously._

_“Okay,” Other-Lucifer exclaims,”Hold on a second. Let’s slow down, ‘cause I... I’m not currently the bad guy here.”_

_Lucifer smirks and points out,”Yeah, tell that to Maggie.”_

_Jack snaps his head in Other-Lucifer’s direction and hisses,”What about Maggie?”_  

_“Maggie saw the eyes of the person who killed her, the glowing, red eyes,” Lucifer explains, not even bothering to hide the disgust in his voice._

_Other-Lucifer laughs uneasily,”You’re gonna - you’re gonna believe this guy? Come on, man! Sam’s a hater!”_

_“Tell me -“_

_“He would say anything to get you on his side!”_

_“Tell me the truth,” Jack commands, his eyes glowing in full force as he thrusts his hand forward._

_Other-Lucifer’s voice went flat as he says,”She saw me when I was scouting out the bunker. She saw me and she screamed, and then... so I crushed her skull with my bare hands. And it was warm and wet, and I liked it.”_

_Lucifer’s chest heaves and his nostrils flare. Lucifer has seen enough memories from Sam’s time in the cage to know that’s been done to him more than a few times over. The archangel yearns to make his counter part pay for what he did to his true vessel, the one that fits him like a glove._

_Jack’s eyes swell with tears, and he chokes out,”You’re not my father. You’re a monster.”_

_“Come on, man!” Other-Lucifer exclaims in frustration, sighing. After a second, he leans forward and he screams a blood curdling scream, his bloody red eyes glowing like hot coals in a fire._  

_He breathes heavily and deeply, as he continues,”Okay. I tried with you. I really tried with you.”_  

_“Everything you told me a lie,” The nephilim retorts._

_“Because I told you what you wanted to hear, man. So what,” Other-Lucifer demands,”I killed the girl! Big deal! She’s a - she’s a human! She doesn’t matter!”_

_“So am I!”_

_“Yeah,” The other archangel hisses lowly, and he points a finger at his son,”And that’s your problem. You’re too much like your father.”_

_Lucifer walks over to where Michael is curled in a fetal position, blood still seeping from every crevice in his body. He crouches down beside him, grabbing the discarded angel blade from ground in his grip and sliding open his vessel’s wrist. Michael’s eyes land on him, and his eye brows furrow in confusion. Lucifer just winks as he slits open his throat and allows his grace to flow into his own vessel’s veins._

_“W-What... h-how...” Michael chokes out._

_“What, you don’t recognize your own baby brother,” Lucifer whispers, his eyes flashing red as he smiles lightly._

_Michael shakes his head frantically and denies,”No. No, no, no. I obliterated you,” He spits out a mouthful of blood as his grace continues to gush from his neck,”I made you one with the dust.”_  

_“For a little while,” Lucifer admits, as the last drops of grace absorb into his vessel,”But, now I’m whole. This is my true vessel... The one that was destined for me since the dawn of time. And I won’t let you take him from me.”_

_His older brother hisses softly,”I shouldn’t be surprised, that you ran to this other earth. That’s all you’ve done our entire life - Run,” He coughs loudly, licking his lips,”You’ll run from him, too, because you’ll realize that you can’t care for him. No... No, you can’t care for him because that’d mean putting someone before yourself...”_  

_“Like you’d know anything about love,” The younger brother counters._  

_Michael smiles ruefully,”I loved you, didn’t I?”_

_“Once, maybe,” Lucifer admits,”But, that was a long time ago. You stopped loving me when you threw me in that damn cage.”_

_“Jack...” Castiel states, taking a step forward._

_Jack pushes a hand forward, and orders,”Stay back. I’ll handle him.”_

_“Will you?” Other-Lucifer challenges. He lowers his voice,”Oh, buddy. We could’ve been something, you and me. We could’ve remade the universe. It would’ve been great. We could’ve been better gods than Dad. And I really wanted that, pal. I wanted that. But now if I can’t have it with you, I... I don’t need ya. I just need your power.”_

_The archangel blade slashed across Jack’s throat, and the nephilim stumbles back with a gasp. Other-Lucifer catches him by his jacket and tugs him forward, beckoning his son’s grace into his mouth. Lucifer glances up from Michael his mouth open in surprise._

_“Jack!” Dean screams._  

_“No!” Castiel cries out._  

_“Ahh,” Other-Lucifer exhales slowly, brushing his fingers against Jack’s neck and healing the wound. His eyes flicker over to him and he smiles,”You know I’m all for blood and tears, Sammy, but I’ve never been a big fan of Michael stealing what’s mine.”_  

_Lucifer narrows his eyes at that comment. It’s right then and there, that he realizes, his counterpart will never let his vessel go. “I think that Michael is the least of our problems right now,” He hisses, his tone icy,”You’ve gotten what you wanted. Let him go.”_

_“You’re so soft on him, Sammy. The boy needs discipline,” The other archangel chides, tsking as he wags his finger,”I think a little time in the empty will do him good.”_

_Other-Lucifer’s eyes, and the full force of everything the devil is, just rivet his attentions back to him.Then, suddenly Jack and Other-Lucifer are enveloped into a deep gold flash of light and they’re gone._

_“Jack!” Castiel and Dean roar simultaneously running forward, but they’re too late._

_Lucifer lays back against the wall, breathing heavily, his fingers brushing against Michael’s. He’s surprised when the latter doesn’t spitefully pull them away. For a brief second, the two forget about the millennia of hatred and just sit, side by side, as brothers._

_“What just happened?” Dean exclaims, fear in his eyes._

_Castiel shakily stands and admits,”I don’t know.”_  

_“The devil won,” Michael chokes out, squeezing part of Lucifer’s hand. He sighs heavily, and something in the archangel breaks at that, seeing his brother on the brink of death,”That’s what happened. He’s super charged. He’ll kill the boy. Hell, he could end the whole universe, if he puts his mind to it. And you thought I was bad.”_

_Lucifer snorts at that and Michael glares at him, his lips curled into a silent snarl. Dean just notices him crouching beside Michael, and narrows his eyes. Castiel stares at them both and cocks his head to the side in confusion._

_“What the hell? Sammy, get away from him,” Dean barks out,”Now! What did you do? What did you do to him, you son of a bitch -“_

_Castiel reaches towards him and pleads,”Sam, get away from him!”_

_Lucifer should obey the two of them, stay in character so that he can go his own way in peace, but he’s just insured Michael’s death. The least he could do was stay at his side throughout. His vessel’s vision burns with tears and he stubbornly shakes his head, as the latter two stare at him like he’s got lobsters crawling out of his ears._

_“Dry your eyes, little brother,” Michael says coldly,”Tears don’t suit you. They never have.”_

_“I cried when I begged you not to throw me into that cage,” Lucifer whispers, more tears falling._

_Michael’s facial expression actually softens at that,”You were just a fledgling,” He shakes his head and looks away from the latter,”But, you gave me no choice. You disobeyed our father and you betrayed me. It still didn’t make it easy.”_

_Lucifer sniffs. “You still could have said no,” He says softly,”You could have said no a thousand times, even after that. Everything that you’ve done, has lead to this, brother. To your undoing.”_

_Michael smiles, a true genuine smile as his eyes stare off into the distance. Then they widen ever so slightly and a soft gasp escapes his lips, his last breath leaving. Lucifer feels his lips tremble and more tears escape his eyes. He reaches a hand forward and gently brushed his fingers against his brother’s vessel’s eyelids, pushing them closed._

_Dean stares down at Lucifer, his nostrils flared as he chokes out,”Y-you’re not S-Sammy...” He shakes his head as he takes a step back._

_Lucifer turns toward him, his eyes flashing the scarlet of a blossoming rose. “No, I’m not your brother,” He pronounces, standing up, running his sleeve over his face,”If it offers any sort of sick comfort, he didn’t tell me ‘yes’.”_

_“Let him go... Let him go, now!” Dean roars, spittle flying through the air._

_Dean was predicable with his rage, he swung his fist towards Lucifer’s face, his teeth grit in determination. Lucifer side stepped it and easily grabbed Dean by his shoulders before he could go stumbling to the ground, spun him around and slammed his own fist into his face. There was a flash of pain and then Dean was on his back, bewildered. Lucifer stood over him, deathly calm, his hand still curled in a fist._  

_“...Sammy,” Dean inquires, his heart hammering within his chest. He swear he sees a glint of amusement in the latter’s cold, steely glaze,”Sammy... are you there?”_  

**_“Oh, he’s in here, all right. And he’s gonna feel the snap of your bones.”_**  

_The archangel had skimmed over his vessel’s memories, so many, many, many times, that the sins of his brother were practically burned into his own mind. He itches to be done with the pest. To use nothing but his bare hands to pay him back for every single thing he’d done to his own little brother. For every pain his vessel suffered under his thoughtless, apathetic, worm of a brother, he’d inflict on back on him ten-fold._

_Lucifer raises his hand, sees the pain and betrayal in Dean’s face, and is eager to see it recoil when the blow lands. He wonders if he is smiling, because the pure, unadulterated joy inflicting pain on this man brings him, is the equivalent of when he breathed life into the luminous stars. His fist is about to meet its target, when he stiffens and stops._

_**No!** Something screams from within. **Stop, stop, stop it! Oh, God! Please, please... Don’t hurt him. Don’t hurt my brother!**_

_‘Sam?’ Lucifer questions the voice, not speaking aloud._

_**...Get out! Get the fuck out - Now! You son of a bitch! Dean! Dean! Dean!** Lucifer flinched at how loud the voice was and quickly pushed it back, deep, deep, into the darkest confines of his vessel’s mind. It fell silent._

_Lucifer takes a deep breath, and lowers his fist. He swallows thickly as he feels the near buzz fade away like a cold wave of reality washing over him. The archangel allows the human to stand, watches him warily as he shoves away his angel friend’s offered hand to help him up. The two meet one another’s eyes, and for a split second, he thinks that they’re going to come to blows again, but the angel prevents him from doing so._

_“I’m not a threat to you. If I’m being entirely honest, I want to gut the two of you, like the pigs you are, and try not to get any on my shoes, ” Lucifer states, his head bowed ever so slightly,”But, I won’t, for Sammy’s sake.”_

_Castiel looks Lucifer in the eye, and questions,”And what about Jack? How do you think your vessel will feel if you let him die?”_

_“You’ve got me there, Cassie,” Lucifer admits with a huff, tucking his hands in his pockets,”The things we do for love.”_

_With a rush of air, he’s gone._

_Lucifer flys around the globe, his eyes combing the planet to find the nephilim. At last, he finds him in a church a few miles away from the bunker. He lands there with a flourish of his wings, his red eyes flashing as he lands in front of his counter part. The latter stares at him with his jaw nearly hitting the floor, and he uses his surprise to his advantage, and with a wink surges his elbow upwards._

_“Hey, buddy,” Lucifer greets, as Jack looks up from his slouched position on the ground in surprise._

_“S-Sam...?” Jack groans in relief as Lucifer grabs his arm and throws it over his shoulder._

_Lucifer chuckles lightly and says,”Guess again, buck-a-roo.”_  

_Jack stares at him in confusion, but after a few seconds, he whispers,”...Lucifer. B-But how...?”_

_“Ding-ding. We’ve got a winner,” Lucifer exclaims,”Someone get the boy a prize.”_

_The nephilim swallows heavily,”...C-can you get my grace b-back? If you can, I can help you fight him.”_

_“Sorry, bud,” Lucifer states grimly,”But it’s already absorbed into his own grace. There’s no getting it back. Now, sit tight.”_

_“When you’re done, will you let him go,” The boy asks softly, his voice trembling with emotion._

_“You know that I can’t do that.”_

_Other-Lucifer is coughing loudly, slowly getting to his feet with all the steadiness of a toddler. “Wow, it’s like getting rejected for the prom by the gal of your dreams, and then seeing that very same gal dancing with another guy,” He coughs again, and beats some of the dust off of himself,”...I’m tired of getting rejected.”_

_Lucifer steels up his gaze, and retorts coldly,”You can't fight me toe to toe and win. That's just basic math,” He extends his arms, his lips quirking into a smile,”I’ve got our true vessel. And the full strength of two archangel’s.”_

_“Wait, stop,” Jack exclaims, wiping a spit of blood from his nose._

_“Kid,” Lucifer groans in exasperation._

_“I won’t let either of you hurt, Sam,” Jack proclaims, taking unsteady steps toward the two of them,”I-If you fight -“_

_“Now why would I listen to you?” Other-Lucifer interrupts._

_Jack wheezes softly, presses his sleeve to his nose and answers,”Because... I’m your son.”_

_“Oh, yeah,” Other-Lucifer cocks his head to the side, and utters,”Well, you had a chance with that. Both of you did. I had plans you know, to be a family. Maybe have a family band. But...” He back hands his son, catches him by his jacket as he falls back,”Now,” He punches him in the face, smiles lazily as something crunches against his knuckles,”As for kids... Ah, I can make more of those. It’s finding a good partner that causes all the trouble._  

_“Stop!” Lucifer roars in anger, grabbing his counterpart by his neck and hoisting him into the air. His hand glows brightly and pulsates as he throws the latter against the alter, crushing him into the stone underneath._

_Other-Lucifer laughs coldly,”Wow, Daddy Sammy coming to the rescue. I hope he can hear me in there, deep, deep down,” He gives him a shit eating grin,”His little son Jackie, the nougat-loving boy that he had before, he’s killed people. He’s got lots of blood on his hands.”_  

_“S-son...” Jack utters, confusion coloring his features._

_Something tingles in the back of Lucifer’s head and then a soft whisper. **I don’t care**. **He’s my son.** Lucifer smiles._

_“He doesn’t care. He’s family,” Lucifer replies, not letting up his grip._  

_“Ha,” Other-Lucifer throws his head back against the crushed stone and cackles,”What’s family ever done for anybody? My dad left me. My brothers tried to kill me. A lot. I mean, you should get it better than anyone, man! Family blows!”_

_Lucifer shakes his head, hates his teeth. “You still love them. It hurts like hell, but you do,” He grits out,”I know that much.”_

_Other-Lucifer surges upwards, his great big wings fluttering behind his back like the sails on a ship’s digging his fingers into his vessel’s chest and tearing. Lucifer spits blood, trapped beneath his counterpart’s clawed hands and mighty wings, as the icy tendrils bleed his vessel dry. Lucifer lurches with a cry and rips himself free, not caring about the pools of blood or the long, mutilated gashes._

_Lucifer summons grace into his palms, molds them into blades of eye-piercing light as he holds them over his head. With a sickening squelch, and a rain of feathers that fall to the church floor like confetti, he’s hacked off one of his counter parts wings, tossing it to the floor as the latter wails in agony. Other-Lucifer screams, so cold, so sharp, but it's a wet sound, an anguished, burning sound._

_A mess of bloody hands, quick thumps of flesh, then the archangel blade is in Lucifer’s shoulder blade. He cries out in pain, and attempts to the pull the thing out, but his counterpart will not relive the pressure from where he’s plunged the blade in._  

_“If I can’t have him... no one can,” Other-Lucifer snarls, applying more pressure to the blade._  

_”You know, I would’ve given anything to be in your shoes. To have someone that completed me, wholly and truly. But what did you do? Not only did you take him for granted, but you desecrated him. You violated him!”_

_The other archangel laughs coldly, mockingly. “I would have given him everything, everything! Everything that I had in my power to give... But he didn’t want it - He didn’t want me,” He spits out a mouthful of blood,”So, now, I’ll take it all away.”_  

_“No,” Lucifer declares, his eyes flashing with a brilliant red that’s like a morning star,”You won’t hurt him... ever... again!”_

_Lucifer tangles his bloodied fingers around his counterpart’s neck and crushes the bones and flesh within. Other-Lucifer’s grip on the blade falters for a split second as a strangled moan of pain escapes him, but that’s all he needs. Lucifer pulls the blade from his shoulder blade with a spray of blood, twirls it expertly in his grip and thrusts it into his counterpart’s heart with a yell._

_Other-Lucifer catches and clutches his wrist tight enough to break skin and bone, but he doesn't flinch or waver, pushing the blade deeper in. He never looks away, not once. Lucifer wasn't going to give him a quick death. No, not at all. Lucifer needs to know that when his counterpart is gone, he’ll be gone forever, for good. Nick's half-immolated likeness of a body collapses in Lucifer’s arms, his counterpart’s head propped against his neck. He stands uneasily, and the body smacks to the ground, a burnt husk, until only the imprint of wings smolders in the dirt._

_Jack is huddled in the corner of the church, silent tears cascading down his cheeks. “H-he’s gone,” He whispers._

_“You’re welcome,” Lucifer grunts, wincing as he tries to stand up all the way._

_Lucifer gets to his feet after an immense struggle, his jaw tense as he begins to move forward. He makes his way towards the doorway, passing the former nephilim who backs away from him, keeping his back to the wall. He’s almost out the door, when someone yells after him._

_”We’ll get him back, you know,” Jack yells, his chest heaving,”Dean, Cas, and I... we won’t let you have Sam.”_

_Lucifer smiles at that. A true, geniuine smile. “Good luck, kid,” And with that, he goes on walking._

With the story at long last over, the two sat in tense silence. Sam stayed on his patch of snow, sank deep within, feeling the soft coldness crackle under him. He imagined it wrapping around him, embracing him like the arms of his brother holding him as he shivered in childish fears. He felt the new snow fall over him, slowly burying him.

When Lucifer extended his hand towards him, Sam didn’t pull away, he stayed perfectly still as the latter’s fingers traced over his. Then, he felt their fingers intertwine, and pull together, holding frigid flesh against frigid flesh. He feels so real, so there, and it makes his heart hammer out of his chest. 

“I think I understand now,” Lucifer says quietly, squeezing the latter’s hand with an unrelenting grip,”Coldness, Sam, all your life, in all your dreams. Cold.”

Sam closes his eyes tightly, and lets out a shuddering breath. “What are you saying?” 

_“Most people think I burn hot, it’s actually quite the opposite.”_

“You know, Sammy. You’ve always known. Whether or not you accept it, now, that’s all you,” Lucifer states plainly.

Samuel William Winchester was always meant for Lucifer; even in the beginning. Before the human’s existence was even an idea, the archangel had been watching, waiting for the one that would free him. And how they both wanted to break free, from family, from the world, from everything that wasn’t each other. 

**We’re the only ones that matter.** Lucifer proclaims, back in Sam’s head. **You and me. Stay with me, Sammy. Stay and we can go wherever we want, so whatever we want.**

And in truth, Sam wanted that. He wanted it more than just about anything he’d ever yearned for. “You know I can’t,” He whispers in response, his voice a low hiss,”You know t-that I can’t just leave behind the life that I’ve made here.”

**...I am your life.**


End file.
